Mortality
by amberpire
Summary: The moon put its faith in you. Vampire!AU. ;Tori/Jade; Rated M for future chapters.
1. Moon

_**Mortality**_

_I - Coexist_

_;;_

Trina remembers it better than you do. She had been just old enough to understand what was happening while you had been too busy with a pair of Barbies on the living room floor. She tells you about it sometimes - about how Mom had clutched Dad's shaking hands and she had never seen them look so scared before and how you almost moved to a different state, a different country, because so many of them came out in California and just how terrifying it all was that first year.

People lost their faith in the moon.

But you grew up with it. It was taught in your elementary school. There were programs on TV depicting pale, glowing-eyed men and women with (no teeth) smiles, urging everyone to keep an open mind, to accept this new group, this new species, because we are all inhabitants of Earth and we must learn to live as one; Coexist, as it were, which is no longer just a word to you, but an entire movement. It represents these people, this race who has lived alongside every other creature for centuries, hiding in the shadows, living in the dark. You watched as they evolved from horror stories to reality, from misunderstood monsters of the night to celebrities, politicians, teachers, the night bus driver and a man living by himself two blocks away from your house. Of course, it hadn't been a bumpless ride - you were too little, but Trina remembers the riots, the Hunters, who are still a threat to this day, working underground to capture the demons of the moon and force them into the sunlight. Your parents have told you about the Mortal Protection Act, the Trackers, how even your mother started carrying around a crucifix in her purse. Churches banned them. Scientists begged to keep them as lab rats for testing. They were ejected from their jobs if their true identity was leaked, and they all began to clump together, finding strength in numbers. To this day, a large portion of them live in Mortal-less zones, largely in Washington and Oregon.

There were rallies. There were parades. There were casualties on both sides. Hunters left behind burnt bodies in the shape of crosses. Mortals were found completely drained in street allies in retaliation. People died just because they supported one side or the other, and silver bullets became a common purchase.

The world, however, was wonderful at adapting, and so it did. You remember learning about it the for the first time when you were eight, sitting cross-legged on the blue and red checkered mat in the Reading Corner, and your teacher - a plump, happy woman with big cheeks and a loud laugh - pulled out a book called Night People. The story was short and really nothing more than a few drawings of Mortals and Non-Mortals being friends. It was the first children's book about them, a best seller, and single-handedly responsible for launching Coexist. After that, they slowly came out of the woodwork; firemen. Soldiers. Singers. Actors. Writers. People who could still contribute to society. They're stronger and faster than Mortals, have more endurance, can do things people like you just can't and slowly, society opened its arms again. They embraced these Others because they saw benefits; medical, financial. They're breathtakingly gorgeous with a beauty that will never age, employees that will (theoretically) never die, workers one will never have to replace or worry about falling ill or getting pregnant. Suddenly, they were important again, and you grew up conditioned to believe that they were just an evolution in the species; equals.

By the time you hit high school, you had already seen a handful of them up close. A waiter at a restaurant, a policewoman, a homeless man wasting away behind a dumpster. You even saw a little boy once, who wasn't a little boy at all - he carried a suitcase in one hand, a cellphone in the other, and you learned later that he was a professor at a nearby university. Sometimes it was hard to tell, but they had a few defining characteristics; the eerie, glowing quality to their irises, the overly pale complexions - one would assume the teeth would be a big give-away, but you understand their anatomy enough to know that their canines can retract, that only upon close inspection could someone really tell the difference. They were few and far between but never not there, and between the times you happened to catch a glimpse of one, they were all over the TV and billboards and magazines because none of them needed photoshop to look like gods.

It wasn't as hard for you as it was for those before you to Coexist. At eighteen, blood banks have become an every day part of the scenery, you've seen your parents speak of friends they once feared fondly, and you watched as the biggest leap in Coexisting history occurred on your TV. Almost two decades after exposing themselves, you and Trina witnessed the first non-human president sworn into office. It was a Big Deal to Coexist, a Monumental Event that would be taught to your children and your children's children years from now.

To be honest, though, you always felt detached from the phenomenon. They are otherwordly and you are just Tori Vega, a teenage Latina attending an Arts school in Hollywood with a bunch of ordinary kids who would never be able to compete with the deathless. You're Mortal and you're not special because you're going to grow old and die while the Non-Mortals will continue to Coexist and live and live and live. They were a very distant part of your life. They were never incredibly important to you.

That is, until the summer before college, when you were staying late one night in order to lock up the Karaoke Dokie, your place of employment for almost two years, something you had done a thousand times by yourself, in the dark, with just a tiny bottle of pepper spray in your purse to protect you if you needed it, not that you ever thought you would. You were thinking of your day off tomorrow, of hanging out with your friends, of catching up on Glee, when your world and their world abruptly collided.

A Vampire grabbed you from behind by the throat, fingers biting your skin like cold steel, and the moon put its faith in you.

_;;_

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** _So I guess this is kind of like an experiment? The plan is to update every day with chapters being at least 1,000 words, an idea I got from another author (summerlightning on tumblr, if you're interested, check her out!) I don't know how long this story is going to be, and I don't really know what the plot is going to be like. It's very up in the air and really depends on if you guys like it or not. If so, please leave a review, and I will dedicate myself to this Vampire!AU._


	2. Fear

**_Mortality_**

_II - Fear_

_;;_

The dictionary defines 'fear' as a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, or pain. On a biological level, your brain sends all kinds of messages to different parts of your body; the adrenal glands, located just above your kidneys, release adrenaline, which jump-starts your defensive responses. You stiffen. Your surroundings become sharper, bolder, more in focus - the chilly fingers around your neck are colder than they would have normally been, intensified by the hormones now pumping in your veins, in your ears. Everything's louder - your tennis shoes scraping against the blacktop of the Karaoke Dokie parking lot, beaten breath washing against your cheek. The orange streetlight posted at the corner, though far away, seems blinding, and you focus on it for no particular reason other than it's right there.

Once, when you were about eight, Trina and you visited your dad's parents who live in Texas. They have a pool in the backyard which really saw no other children but you guys, so you and Trina took advantage of the sun and the water. Your grandparents trusted the two of you enough to swim alone, considering the water was just a little below your bust. It was the last summer Trina actually put her head under the water and didn't just tan on the deck; she was performing a trick for you by going under and squeezing through the lowest rung on the ladder submerged in the pool and then popping back out. It wasn't a particularly envious talent, but nevertheless you wanted to prove to your big sister that you could do it, too. When Trina climbed out to apply more sunscreen, you took advantage of your solitude - so as not to embarrass yourself in case you failed - and dumped yourself down with a lung-bursting breath. The chlorine burned your eyes, so you blindly groped your way through the rung. You were already feeling like you needed a breath, so you wiggled yourself through the gap in the ladder. Just as you were about to kick off the wall of the pool and bob over the surface with that sweet, sweet air, a nail in the ladder snagged on your bathing suit, just above your thigh. You were so startled by the fact that you _could not move_, you ended up making the situation worse, getting yourself more stuck, bubbles hurtling toward the surface. After less than a minute, your vision was dimming and the nail had split open your skin - a scar you still have, white and faded against your naturally dark flesh - curls of red staining the water. Trina saw you flailing under the water just in time to tear you off of the ladder and to the surface, a life-saving task that she never, ever let you forget. You had never been so afraid in your life, and you were convinced you would never be that scared again.

Until now.

A raspy voice fills your ear with an incoherent groan. The hands around your throat haven't cut off your airway, but it's getting close. Although you haven't yet seen the Vampire, you know it's one by some instinct you didn't know you had telling you so. You picture your body, drained and lifeless, left in the empty parking lot to be washed alight with sun. You see your parents shattered in grief, your friends having a reason to personally despise Vampires when you had done nothing to them, a closed casket funeral. You think of all the shows you'll never perform, the music you'll never sing, the people you'll never love.

"Please don't kill me." It's pathetic and weak, you know, but it's the first thing that wrestles with your tongue. Your eyes close, but that only makes the icy fingers seem tighter. Your eyes snap open again, focusing again on that distant streetlight.

A rustled, tortured breath. You think it might be something akin to a chuckle, but you're having trouble hearing over the roar of your heartbeat.

_Oh_, you think with a rushed gasp. Your heartbeat. Your heartbeat is probably making the Vampire's mouth water and spurring the instinct to latch onto you like a leech and not let go until you're not moving anymore and oh God oh God -

"Blood." The voice scratches into your ear again. It's weak, trembling, but you can't decipher if it's male or female. Not that it really matters - they've made it clear what they want from you.

Your purse. The thought slams into you so fast you don't have time to process your hands or what they're doing, which is fumbling for the zipper on your purse, yanking it open with a loud _zzzzink_ and diving into it. Your attacker doesn't move. It's just the same, broken breaths in your ear, spilling cool groans over your cheek. Your hand fishes, shoving aside your wallet and make-up, fruitlessly searching for the tiny pink tube of pepper spray. You honestly don't know how effective that is against Vampires, but it's something, and you wish you had a crucifix, you wish you had a gun, because you don't want to die today.

"B-Ba-" The voice shakes again, fingers coiling around your neck - but not as if the person wishes to choke you. It's almost like they're trying to hold themselves up. Your fingers pause just briefly before you start searching again, elbow jabbing backward into something hard and sharp. It takes you a moment to realize that it's their chest, their ribs.

"Please," you breathe, finally finding your prize. You grip the familiar length of the tube and hold your breath, waiting for teeth to clamp into your jugular, for some form of demand, any further sign that you're going to die.

"Blood," the voice repeats, and then, their prominent ribs cutting into your back as they fall forward. "Bank." A shuddering gasp inward, so tight and forced and _dying_, every hair growing rigid on your neck and arms. "_Please_."

It's the last thing they say, because then they slip away from your neck and land with a sickening thud on the ground behind you. I'm free, you think, immediately taking a step forward. You could reach your car in less than ten seconds. You could peel out of here and be gone in thirty.

But one step is all you take before you spin back, breathing loud, heart louder, and look down at the heap your attacker has become. It's a girl - you can only really tell by the mop of hair as black as the parking lot top shielding her face. What's most alarming about her, though is the state of her body. Or what could be called a body, you suppose; her arms and collarbones are protruding so grotesquely from her skin they look moments away from puncturing straight through. Her skin itself is a pale gray color, like she had risen from the grave. Her clothes - a white tank-top smudged with dirt and grass stains, only emphasizing the contours of her ribs. She looks broken - dead, really, and you're shaking and staring and gasping and oh God they _didn't teach you this on those equal rights promotion programs on TV_!

The moon blankets her in white. You open your mouth. Close it. Your eyes follow suit.

She wasn't attacking you. She was looking for help. She was scared, too, and probably much more scared than you.

You think back to what you've been taught about Vampires. They need blood, obviously. They can only last so long without it; being exposed to the sun and starvation are the only real ways they can die. (You know from Trina that during the days Hunters were more rampant, they attempted both burning and decapitation, but neither worked. The process of Vampire healing is slow but effective, and totally gross - you watched a video about it in Biology once). They've made synthetic blood supplements, but there are Blood Banks, where willing donors are paid to feed Vampires who have money to spend on real blood. They also serve as emergency services for Vampires, although you're not entirely sure what kind of emergency they might have. Probably something like this.

You know the nearest Blood Bank is on the corner of Ridge Street and Third. It's probably ten, maybe fifteen minutes away.

You stand there and think and wring your hands in your hair and look down at the skinny, emaciated little Vampire girl and what do you do what do you _do_ -

"Goodness," you whine, adjusting your purse over your shoulder and bending at the knees. She weighs nothing. You rush to your car, craning your neck to press your ear where you think her mouth would be to listen for her breathing, but then you remember that she's undead, and the dead don't breathe.

But the dead can live, so you speed.

_;;_


	3. Starved

_**Mortality**_

_III - Starved_

_;;_

You think that if you were in a movie, this car ride would be played against some very fast, creepy music, the kind that gets the audience all pumped up and gripping their armrests and screaming at you _drive faster, Tori, drive faster_. But it's not. It's silent. Eerily so. There's no radio, there's no sound from the backseat, and you're doing nothing but breathing through your nose and gripping the steering wheel without enough pressure to bleach your knuckles.

Usually you don't mind driving at night. Your friend, Robbie, who, granted, is afraid of a large list of things, gets panic attacks just thinking about navigating streets in the dark. (He's Jewish, but he owns a crucifix 'just in case'). But you've always found it kind of calming; orange streetlights crawling across the hood of your car, the sky like a black velvet blanket tucking in the sun, the cool California breeze as it whistles through the crack in your window.

However, having a possibly-dead-possibly-not Vampire in your backseat makes driving at night an entirely different experience.

You dare a frantic glance in your rear view mirror, cocked downward so you can see the girl's body, an ancient skeleton rotting on your seat. It looks like you robbed a museum of an unclothed mummy. "Goodness," you breathe for what is probably the twentieth time and then raise your voice a little. "Hey, please, please don't die, okay?"

The girl doesn't respond. A shadow is filling the cave of her sunken eye socket, making her face look like a scooped out skull.

"Goodness." You swallow hard and focus instead on the road, whipping around the next corner. It's almost 10PM – the street is lifeless save for one club that you pass, a neon liquor store, and then a block of white light illuminates on the corner of Ridge and Third. It's a small sun against the sleeping night. The parking lot has a handful of cars in it – employees, probably, and likely a few late-night donors. The building is squat and gray, with a large red stripe going around the middle. The words _Blood Bank_ are in large silver letters above the double doors, which are nothing but big glass windows with handles. As you pull into the nearest empty space and throw your car into park, you see two figures in white coats pass the entrance, holding clipboards.

"Wait!" You shout as you open your door, but no one comes. Vampires are supposed to have super-hearing, right? Grunting, you close your door and yank open the back one, staring down at what remains of the starved Vampire girl lying limp and lifeless. You wait for a moment for no particular reason, staring at her, an anatomy prop for a Biology class. You wonder if dying is different for them – there's still this ongoing argument amongst the religious about whether or not Vampires have souls, if there's an afterlife for the immortal. There are Vampire religious figures – Father George Berghstrom is the most famous one. He has his own TV show (which airs at night, appropriately) who claims to be over two hundred years old. He founded the first church that accepted both Mortals and Vampires and has a surprisingly large following. Your family never really participated in church or any kind of faith when you were growing up and you never planned on starting, but you hope, suddenly, as you stand there staring at a maybe dead Vampire girl, that if she's dead, or if she's going to die, she goes somewhere nice.

Gingerly, like she'll break at any moment (and honestly, you wouldn't be surprised if she did), you pull her out of your backseat and bump the door closed with your hip. As you step up to the Blood Bank's doors, they slide open with a ding, and your pupils constrict with light. The lobby looks like an ordinary hospital one - carpet, a large oval desk, music that no one knows the name of playing over speakers in the ceiling. There's a certain metallic smell to the air that you try to ignore. You adjust the girl's head against your elbow, her entire body feeling brittle and so very, very fragile, and you've always known Vampires to be these indestructible god-like creatures you see in all the movies; Gerard Butler, Angelina Jolie, Leonardo DiCaprio, the scary buff guy from Hellboy - all Vampires. Picture one of them dying. It's not an easy thing to do.

But it is easy to see this paper girl in your arms never wake up again, because she looks like nothing.

A dark-skinned nurse pops up from behind the desk. You stare at him, mouth open, because 1) he's a Vampire, and 2) you don't know what to say. You gesture with your arms, holding the girl out, and he rounds the desk so fast, it's like he's moving in fast forward.

"She, she -" You try to explain, but he doesn't even look up. Muscular arms take the girl away from you and he starts hustling toward a pair of doors to the left. You gape after him, arms still hovering at your waist like you're still carrying her, like she still needs you. "Wait!" You call after the nurse, who is yelling down the hall and disappearing. You jog to catch up, shouldering your way through the door and down a cream-colored hallway. You pass open doors, donors propping books on their knees with tubes wiggling out of their open elbows, employees mixing blood in glass containers with sickening clinks, and you have to cover your nose with your hand to block out the overwhelming scent of iron.

The nurse carrying your - what? Your what? - is whipping around another corner. Vampires are _fast_. It's what they're most known for above everything else. It's why they're not allowed to compete in professional sports, because they have an unnatural advantage. Not that they could really join, anyway, since most sporting events takes place during the day. You know there are some baseball teams that are exclusively Vamps, but your life had always been separate from theirs and you never bothered to pay much attention.

And then tonight happens.

You're determined not to lose him. The building isn't big, so there's really only so many places he can go before you catch up. He finally stops at a room just as you're turning the corner and you're out of breath by the time you get there, clinging to the door frame as you peer in.

The nurse - his nametag just manages to catch your eye as he bustles about the girl's body, now laying flat on a crisp white bed - Christopher, isn't alone. There's two women assisting him in silence. One pulls two packets of blood from a freezer, pauses, then grabs another one. Your stomach turns at the sight of it, even more so at the needles the other woman - girl, really, for she looks younger than you - rips from a plastic container. The younger one eyes you briefly before turning her attention to the girl on the bed. You stare at her, too; in the light, she looks even worse. A corpse dug out of the grave.

"Is she going to be okay?" You say the words without thinking about it. None of them look at you for nearly a minute, poking the girl's arm with a large needle, hanging a blood bag up on a stand beside her.

"Where did you find her?" Christopher places his hands on either side of the girl's neck.

You blink, stuttering for a moment as you try to gather your thoughts. "She, uh, she came up to me in the parking lot at the Karaoke Dokie." You swallow and ask again. "Is she going to be okay?"

Christopher's mouth is stern. He looks at you, finally, his brown eyes radiating a Non-Mortal glow. "Did you get her name?"

"No."

"She said nothing to you?"

You shake your head. "She just said 'Blood Bank'. That's it. I'm sorry." You don't know why you apologize, why you feel like it's your fault. You look at the girl again, unresponsive, cold and a darkening shade of gray. "Please," you say, stepping into the room. You watch as the older woman punctures the girl's opposite arm, fueling her with another packet of blood. "Is she going to be okay?"

Christopher looks between you and her, sighs, and shrugs. His thumb runs across the girl's forehead. "I don't know. She's been starved for a very long time, by the looks of it. I've seen Infinites pass over that didn't look nearly as bad as this."

You wrinkle your eyebrows at the word, Infinites. You've never heard it before. You think maybe it's like your mother calling you mija, or chica, like they have their own language.

You lower yourself into a white, plastic chair bolted to the wall beside the door. Christopher perks a brow at you. "You don't have to stay," he says, tapping one of the blood bags. "You don't know her, right?"

You shake your head.

"Then go home," he advises.

You only shake your head once more. "No. She needed me in that parking lot. She might still need me when she wakes up."

He stares at you with legitimate surprise. "All right," he says, eyeing you before checking over the various medical equipment in the room.

You stare at the girl's face. If it had been a Mortal girl starving on the sidewalk, you'd stay and make sure she lived. It shouldn't be any different just because it's a Vampire. And you like to think that people are generally good, and Vampires are people, too. Maybe you'll gain a friend.

So you settle in, pull out your phone, and prepare to tell your mother exactly why you won't be home on time tonight.

_;;_


	4. Green

_**Mortality**_

_IV- Green_

_;;_

You weren't sure how your mom was going to handle it. Neither you or Trina has ever been friends with a Vampire, let alone picked up a starving one in the middle of a parking lot and brought them to a Blood Bank. Your mom is silent for several long seconds after you blurt it out to her in one rushed, crammed sentence that you're sure broke more than a couple grammar rules, and then she says, "Are you safe?"

You press the phone closer to your ear and look across at Jane Doe - that's what Christopher said they would call her until they got some form of ID - while the nurses hover around her. She doesn't look any better. Her lips are white and parted, cheeks sunken, the bones of her shoulders and upper chest disturbingly visible through her tanktop. You swallow and crane your head down again, feeling your stomach twist a bit. "Of course, Mom. It's a Blood Bank, not a Blood _Bar_."

The younger nurse, who you would swear is no older than fourteen if it weren't for her obvious glowing eyes and milk-pale skin, makes a soft laughing sound before shaking her head, glancing sidelong at you. You're not sure if you just offended her or if she really thought it was funny, so you tug a corner of your lips weakly upward before letting it still again. Blood Bars are clubs notorious for the rather ... promiscuous things that go on there. From what you've heard about them, and how they're depicted on TV, they're really not all that different from Mortal bars except that, generally, when Mortals go there, it's not for the music or the booze. Not surprisingly, when Vampires first 'came out' so to speak, there was a great number of people who were increasingly interested and even excited about their existence. Because you've never lived your life without Vampires, you're not sure why or how they were romanticized in previous years, but they had become a kind of ... sexual fantasy over time. Apparently at Blood Bars, a lot of sex goes on, and it usually involves feeding. It's a kinky, taboo kind of thing you've only heard whispers about.

"Tori," your mom is saying, pulling your thoughts out of the gutter and back into the Bank. "You don't know this girl, and I don't feel comfortable knowing you're in a building full of Vampires ..."

You raise your eyebrows. "Since when are you prejudice?"

"I'm not, honey, you know I'm not. I have Vampire co-workers. They're very nice people, it's just that you're alone, and you never know when they're about to feed ..."

A snort causes your eyes to lift. It's Christopher, staring at you with his hand out, glancing pointedly at your phone. Without thinking about it, you let it fall into his open palm, and he flips it to his ear.

"Hello, my name is Christopher. I'm a nurse here at this particular Blood Bank. I am also a Vampire. I can assure you that your sister - oh? Daughter? You could have fooled me, ma'am. I assure you that your daughter is perfectly safe here. She is actually quite the surprising hero, going out of her way to rescue one of us. You have raised a very compassionate young woman, Mrs. ... Vega? Mrs. Vega. Even when I told her to head on home, she insisted on staying to make sure the Vampire she brought to us makes it out okay. I'll make sure she leaves before midnight, Mrs. Vega. Thank you." He shifts the phone back to me, where I mumble a quick goodbye to my mother before hanging up. He returns briskly to the girl's side, mumbling rushed words to the older nurse, who exits the room.

"Uhm." You stand up, sneakers squeaking loudly against the white tile of the floor. You move until you're at the edge of the bed. They've covered the girl with a blanket, but one foot is protruding from beneath it. The skin around her toes is so taught and sickly you have to cover your mouth while your other hand tugs at the blanket's corner to flip it over the exposed limb. "Can I ask a question?"

Christopher eyes you over a chart he has picked up before nodding. "Sure."

"Uhm," you repeat, very eloquently, before you lower your hand to your side and take a deep breath. "How do you know if she's dead or not?"

Somehow, the nurse finds this funny. He chuckles and looks at his paper, scribbling something down. "Well, we don't get very many starved Infinites. This is the first one I've seen in years. Usually we get Vamps who are having trouble healing and need pure blood in order to speed up the process. Coexist works diligently to make sure things like this -" he nods toward Jane Doe, "- don't happen anymore. But there is a procedure." He taps a finger against his clipboard. "We pump four bags of blood into her system. If she doesn't wake up within a few hours, then it was too late, and she's passed over." Christopher smirks a little and looks up at me. "We don't turn into ash. We don't fly off in the wind."

"I know," you reply a tad defensively. You might not know everything about Vampires, but you think you know enough. "What happens when she wakes up?"

"We ask her who has been starving her."

You frown. "You mean, someone did this to her on purpose?"

Christopher nods. "If a Vampire wanted to kill themselves, all they would need to do is wait for that big yellow ball to rise in the sky. Much more efficient. Besides," he reaches down and curls his fingers around one of the girl's wrists and raises it. You hadn't even noticed them before, but now you can make out a distinct red circle looping around her frail bones, almost like she had been burned. "Someone tied her up with silver," Christopher continues with a wince.

"Goodness," you breathe, chest swelling with empathy.

The Vampire nods. "If she lives, we'll call the authorities. Find out who did this to her. Get her well again."

"Do you think it was a Hunter?"

Christopher shrugs. "Could be, though they're usually keen to big displays out in the sunlight. I don't know. Like I said, it's been a while since I saw a starved Infinite."

"How old are you?" It blurts out before you can stop it. You clamp a hand over your mouth when he looks at you, making you shake your head. "Sorry," you say behind your fingers. "That was rude, I didn't mean -"

"I'm one hundred and four," he interjects, laughing. He opens his mouth to continue, but his head suddenly snaps down toward Jane Doe. You look, too, and jump back so hard you nearly trip over your own feet.

Because her eyes are open and they're the greenest of greens and she's staring at you.

_;;_


	5. Owe

**_Mortality_**

_V - Owe_

_;;_

Although staying at home is very comfortable to you, you like nature. Sometimes, you and your friend, Cat, pack a basket and go hiking on a tourist park not too far from your house. You like the thick smell of pine trees and soil and the kaleidoscope of colors that come with leaves and flowers and even weeds. You've always identified green with growing; seeds, stems, roots, the natural process of something sprouting and blooming and wilting and dying.

Her eyes are a different kind of green. It isn't the lush of plants or forests or growing. It is emerald jewels. It is the velvet dresses of Queens long dead.

"Welcome back," Christopher says, breaking the suddenly tense silence.

Neither of you move. Jane Doe continues to stare at you with great intensity, as if she weren't just nearly dead a few minutes ago. Her face has filled out some, the sharp points of her cheekbones melting somewhat as her body begins to take form, like a sponge absorbing water. After a long while she shifts her attention to Christopher, who wields a flashlight and proceeds to flick its yellow light into the girl's pupils. You swallow and step back, busying your fingers with the hem of your jacket. You're certainly relieved that she's alive, but now that she's awake, she can probably remember everything back in the parking lot. The way you begged her not to kill you. When you scrambled in your purse for pepper spray. How you almost left her there to die.

"What's your name?" Christopher questions, his attention fully on the patient. He props a clipboard against his hip and clicks a pen with his free hand.

The girl coughs. She tries to push herself up, but the nurse puts a gentle hand on her shoulder, silently urging her to stay put. She lets her head fall back against the pillow, black tendrils of hair snaking across the white plane of the pillow in circles. You jump when the older nurse who had left earlier is suddenly at your side, her eyes narrowed as she watches Jane Doe curiously move her limbs one by one on the bed. You can't read the girl's expression - it's almost bewildered, like she isn't sure if this is reality, and her eyes keep cutting back to you like you're something important. Offering a smile doesn't seem to help anything; she remains confused, looking between you and the nurses with slightly foggy eyes.

And then she speaks - or tries to, but the same raspy croak that rustled in your ear earlier is all that comes out. She gestures with one hand and Christopher mimics it to the nurse beside you, who bustles toward the freezer and withdraws another packet of blood. You try not to look at it - it's not that blood makes you queasy necessarily, it's just the thought of someone drinking it like you do Arizona tea is a little upsetting to your stomach. And, sure enough, as soon as it's handed to the girl, she reels her head back and two porcelain fangs protrude from her upper jaw. Burying them in the packet of blood, a terrible sucking sound emanates, and you have to curl your fingers to keep them from slapping over your ears. Her eyes flicker as they roll upward from what you guess is intense pleasure, like that time you had deep fried ice cream for the first time and decided it was the best thing you had ever tasted.

The girl doesn't stop until her sucking does nothing but make the plastic shrink emptily. Squeezing the bag in her hands, she falls back again, eyes opening to land directly on you. You fidget, contemplating taking your leave - she's alive, and that's all you were concerned about initially - but now you know that someone did this to her and you want to know who and why. You want to see them be punished for it because no one deserves this kind of treatment, Mortal or not.

"Can you tell me your name?" Christopher speaks again, pen hovering over his clipboard.

Jane Doe runs the back of a skinny hand over her lips - which are no longer white, slowly taking on a healthier pink shade - and clears her throat. "Jade," she replies, shifting her arms uncomfortably. They're both still punctured with needles, machines whirring quietly behind her as they pump more blood into her system. "Jade West."

Christopher scribbles it down. "It's nice to meet you, Jade. I'm Christopher. These nurses are Amelia and Georgette." He points first to the younger looking nurse and then to the older. "And this," he indicates to you, pauses, and twists his head to meet your eyes. "I never got your name."

Your mouth falls open but you've forgotten how to work it. You're aware that he's talking to you, but all of your focus is on the Vampire crumpled on the bed, eyelids heavy. "Uhm." You give a firm shake of your head and take a breath to steady yourself. You can't help but notice that the two female nurses are suppressing laughter. "Tori," you say, nodding your head, as if to reassure yourself.

"Tori," Christopher repeats, swiveling back to Jade. "She brought you here." He smiles incredulously. "She saved you."

Jade blinks at him. Skinny neck flexing, she looks back to you. You don't know if you should smile or wave the statement away or leave or what - so you just stand there, lips parted, eyes wide, as the Vampire girl assesses you in silence.

"I remember." She lifts her chin a little. "I owe you."

Her words are oddly sincere. You realize you haven't made a very good impression since she woke up, having done nothing but stand there and gape like an idiot. But you don't have time to interject, because Jade isn't acknowledging you anymore.

Without another word to you, she looks to Christopher. "When can I leave?"

The question catches the nurse off guard. He raises his eyebrows. "Ah, well, when you've recovered. Tomorrow night, probably, if all goes well. But you still need to talk to the police, and I'm going to need an account of what happened -"

"Nothing happened," the girl snaps, voice so sharp you can almost feel the blade slicing your eardrums.

It's Christopher's turn to blink. "Right." He reaches over her torso and jabs a finger roughly into the gap between her still very prominent ribs. You figure that if he had done that to you, it would have hurt terribly, but the girl doesn't so much as wince. "Because Infinites just end up like this on their own in this day and age. Of course. Forgive me for thinking otherwise. Not to mention -" Christopher's hand blurs it moves so fast, snatching up Jade's wrist and thrusting it upward. You take an instinctive step forward, a hand raised to - what? Stop him? It doesn't matter, because you let it fall and no one looks at you. "These nice little silver burns. Unless you have a peculiar kink for the stuff, I suggest you give up and spill it."

Jade's anger is accented strongly by the thinness of her facial features. Dark brows are digging hard over her nose. "I don't have to tell you anything."

"Wait."

It doesn't occur to you that you've spoken until all three nurses and Jade are turning to look at you. Tucking your arms over your chest, you look each of them in the eye before reluctantly returning your gaze to Jade. She sets her jaw tightly and scowls at you, bony fingers coiling into fists on top of her stomach.

"You said you owe me," you say slowly, resisting the urge to flinch when Jade's eyes harden dangerously.

"Yes," she growls through her teeth. "If you're looking for money, it will have to wait until I get out of here -"

"No." You shake your head quickly, squeezing your upper arms with your hands until you feel the blood flow shorten. "No, I don't want that. I saved your life, so you owe me, and I want you to make it up to me by telling him who did this to you." You nod toward Christopher. When no one says anything, you keep going. "You said you owed me," you mumble, voice quiet and lost in your throat.

Jade's cheek flickers. You think she might start screaming at you, maybe even launch out of the bed and tackle you to the floor. But after a heated moment she relaxes, sinking against the bed and letting her eyes close. "Fine." Her voice is tight.

Christopher poses his pen over the clipboard.

Jade doesn't take a breath - Vampires don't need to breathe, after all - and her next sentence is spoken without stopping and it's so fast you can barely keep up. "My ex-boyfriend is the leader of an underground cult that wants to enslave the Human race and farm them like cattle and when I tried to leave they chained me in the basement and starved me so I would be hungry enough to drain a Human but my hands got thin enough to pull through the cuffs and I escaped and I ran until I saw someone with a car."

She looks at you. You can't breathe.

Jade gives a humorless smirk. "There. Debt paid."

_;;_

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** _I know I promised daily updates, but I'm going to have to tweak that promise a bit and change it to just updates on weekdays. I have other stories to update, homework to do, this thing called a life I periodically have to pay attention to ... things of that nature. Hope this doesn't bother anyone too much._


	6. Immortalis

**_Mortality_**

_VI - Immortalis_

_;;_

You hear the police before they get there. You try to leave, but an officer with a thick mustache tells you that you need to stay to receive an account.

"I don't know anything about this cult," you tell him. "I just brought her here."

He doesn't seem to be listening. He tells you to sit on the chair bolted next to the door and you do, pulling out your phone to call your mom again. She insists on sending over your father - he's a cop - but after several minutes of begging (and talking to a police officer on the phone to calm her) she finally lets you go. You rub your forehead with the tip of your phone and and stare down at your open-toed shoes and the floor beneath them. There's so much white in this room, you're starting to feel like you're on the inside of an egg.

There's an officer on either side of Jade's bed. She's nursing her third packet of blood. You know that Vampires heal quickly, but it's amazing just how different she looks now compared to less than an hour ago. Her face is filling out, the skin around her hands and wrists doesn't seem so tight. It's like watching death in reverse.

"How many times do I have to repeat myself?"

Her angry voice draws you out of your hands. Jade is sitting up in the bed. They removed one of the needles, but the other is still pumping blood into her system. She scratches it until Christopher shoves her hand away and she gives him a look so akin to a snake, you half expect her to strike him with her teeth.

Jade pinches the bridge of her nose. "His name is Beck Oliver. I don't know where they meet - he was keeping me in the basement of an abandoned drug store on Third." She lowers her hands and looks at her nails, as if they're more important than what's going on around her. You can tell she's frustrated, though; there's a thick line in her neck, a muscle constantly shifting in her temple. You want to comfort her - you feel kind of obligated to, now, because it's your fault the cops are here and it's your fault she's obviously so upset.

You try to shove the the guilt away - you were a heroine tonight. You saved someone. You should be proud. But you only feel bad for causing her more grief. Picking at your nails, you wait until a police officer approaches you and sits at your side. Quietly, you give your account again - she approached you in the parking lot. You drove her over here. She didn't say anything during the car ride. You didn't see where she came from.

"Did she harm you at all?" The officer asks, peeking up at you.

You open your mouth but close it again. Jade didn't hurt you. She certainly scared you to bits by creeping up on you like she did, but she wasn't attacking you. Shaking your head, you watch as the officer scribbles something else down before telling you that you can leave. Nodding, you stand up, slinging your purse over your arm. Jade is itching at the needle again with a frown while the police talk to the nurses. Taking advantage of their distraction, you walk up to Jade's other side and look down at her, hoping to have prepared some words before you did, but when she flicks those impossibly green orbs up at you, you're at a lost again.

Your heart climbs in your throat and settles there, which is so very Human of you.

She perks a brow at you. You notice then that it's pierced, the black jewelry only reinforcing the sharpness of her appearance.

"I don't owe you anymore," she says, and you shake your head quickly, gripping your purse strap with one hand.

"I know." You smile weakly. "I'm sorry if I caused you any more stress."

Jade's eyes narrow. It makes her irises look black. "Oh, I'm sure you are."

You fidget. You understand, even in just this brief time, that Jade isn't the easiest person to get along with. You can tell she wants nothing more than to watch you leave and never see you again, probably regretting choosing you to bring her here. Looking at your feet once more, you pluck nervously at your earlobe before speaking up again. "So, you can leave tomorrow?"

Jade sighs and shoots Christopher a glare. "I'd like to leave tonight, but this kind of healing takes forever." Her tone suggests she's speaking from experience, which worries you - had she been starved before? Had this Beck guy done this to her in the past? "Either way," she continues, "I'll be gone tomorrow."

"Actually -" It's Christopher cutting in, side-stepping an officer in order to lean down. "Representatives of Coexist will be here tomorrow. They're going to sponge you for information."

The Vampire girl rolls her eyes. "Fuck Coexist," she grumbles, then, after a moment, she says, "Will they hook me up with a new place?"

Christopher grins, knowing he's won her over. "Of course. You'll be under their protection. They'll probably even supply you with a bodyguard until they find these guys."

"Immortalis," Jade replies. When she earns nothing but confused looks, she huffs. "Latin for Immortals. That's what the crazy fuckers call themselves."

The dark skinned nurse's smile is not quite as enthusiastic this time. "Charming." He rolls his wrists to look at his watch. "It's past midnight, Tori. I told your mother you'd be out of here by now."

"I was just leaving," you say, giving a reassuring smile before looking back to Jade. She's watching you, too, eyes still narrowed, the thin bones of her arms crossing over her torso. "So. Uhm. It was nice meeting you." You hesitate, then gush, "I mean, it's awful that it was under these circumstances, but, you know what I mean -"

Jade lifts a finger. It's not an overly demanding gesture, but you shut up instantly anyway. She then dips her chin and uses the same hand to wave you off.

But you can't bring yourself to move. You look among the few remaining officers, the nurses, Christopher, and finally Jade, who is all but tapping her foot with impatience. "I'll, uhm -" You search for words, scramble a sentence together, and say it before you can bring yourself to talk yourself out of it, "I'll come see you tomorrow. Bye!"

Spinning on your heel, you rush out of the room before anyone can reply. You almost get lost in the hallway on your way back to the door, but you eventually make your way out alongside another Human donor, who has a fluorescent pink bandage around their elbow. You climb into your car, head whirling as you finally pull away from the Blood Bank and start your drive home.

Your mother is waiting for you when you get there, but you feign fatigue and escape her probing questions, at least for the night. You strip your clothes and pull on an over-sized t-shirt before burying yourself in your bed.

You don't sleep well, though, because the moon is haunting you outside your bedroom window and orbs of green project themselves on your eyelids.

_;;_


	7. No Humans

**_Mortality_**

_VII - No Humans_

_;;_

The next morning, both your parents and Trina milk you for details. Like you, they've all been distant from the phenomenon of Vampires. Despite your mother insisting that she has Vampire co-workers, she has never really befriended one (not that what happened last night was anything close to making a friend) and you know your father has Vampire officers on the force but, appropriately, they work the night shift and your dad doesn't.

They ask what she looked like, what she said, how did her teeth look, was the organization big, did you think she was a spy, was the Christopher guy hot (this, obviously, asked by Trina), and so on. You try to answer them the best you can but last night feels like a very vivid, warped dream, in which you were simply in the right place at the right time, and it all happened so fast that it just doesn't even seem real. Whenever you close your eyes you see her, pale and lifeless on the little white bed, and then her glaring at you, and her slowly coming back to life. You wring your hands under the table as your family eats breakfast.

It's silly, because none of this means you have to change anything about your life. You saved someone. Go you. You were a heroine for a day. Vampires still didn't have to be a part of your life or be any more important than they were prior to yesterday, but you feel ... connected, somehow. You just know that you want to see her again, to make sure she's okay and try and leave a better impression on her when you do.

You go to work at four. The Karaoke Dokie is already alive with noise and people and that addictive bass you love so much beating time against your sternum. Cat and Robbie are there, eating fries together at the table closest to the kitchen so they can talk to you while you wait for orders. Upon seeing them, you contemplate telling them about last night - about Jade, and the Immortalis, and how surreal it was being in a room where you were the only Mortal, but you don't. It's weird, but you're almost protective of the memory, like it somehow makes you special. _You_ saved a Vampire. No, you saved a _life_. Telling your family wasn't optional, but this is - they don't have to know about the night the moon trusted you with one of her people. Especially since the chances of seeing Jade ever again are pretty slim - she seemed intent on leaving, and God knows that you would never find her - it's like a one night stand, and it's yours, and you want to keep it for yourself.

People sing and dance and laugh and everything smells of food and sweat. It's almost easy to forget about what happened the night before in this very Human place. Every single person here is young, mere babies compared to the Vampires they share the planet with. Every single person here will grow old, with wrinkles and gray hair, and they will die.

Well, theoretically, anyway. After all, Vampires were once Humans, too.

You don't know much about how the Change works. You know it can be done, that it _is_ done, but from what you know, Coexist discourages Humans from Changing with as much emphasis as possible. It's a Bad Idea, because then everyone around you dies, and Immortality can get super boring, you can't have kids, no more tanning or eating food, not to mention the large portion of the population that still thinks Vampires either don't have a soul or are bound for Hell. But it happens. You've read articles in magazines where a Vampire and a Human fall hopelessly in love (it's the basis for every romance movie anymore) and the Vampire simply Cannot Go On (with capitals) without the Human, so they begin the very complicated process of Changing. Since Coexist, if a Human wants to be Changed, they have to, first of all, have a willing Maker. They have to be at least twenty-five. There's a lot of paper work involved, though you're not sure what it entails, really. (That part of the movie is usually synced with a montage). You know it takes a couple of years, and you have to be approved, and probably a hundred other things go into it that you don't even know about. Again, you never gave it much thought before. Their life is so foreign, so separate. You Coexist with Vampires, but you don't _live_ with them.

Cat and Robbie leave around seven. The crowd dies down by nine, and by nine-thirty you're cleaning tables and getting ready to close. Your boss, a short woman with a bob of dark hair, seems to notice how antsy you're acting, how you just want to leave, and dismisses you early. Gushing a thanks, you practically sprint out of the door and to your car. Crossing the parking lot - in the dark, alone - makes last night's events so much more clear, so real, and you're turning to look behind you before you can stop yourself. It's empty, of course, but it's almost like the moment was frozen here, witnessed only by the moon.

You turn then to find it, but she's missing; the sky is black and blank.

You drive to the Blood Bank while humming to the radio, trying to ignore the sudden nerves in your arms and fingers. You're practically rattling by the time you approach the Bank, just as bright as it was the night before, like a lighthouse on the shore. The parking lot is significantly more packed this time, and you study the cars as you make your way toward the doors. At first glance, there's nothing peculiar about them, but then you notice, as you have a couple of times in the past - the windows. So black you can't see inside. It's the universal sign that a Vampire is nearby.

You study each car. All of them. They're all Vampire vehicles. You don't think you've ever seen this many Vampire cars in one place before. You didn't know this many lived in this neighborhood.

But then you notice the seal on the passenger doors. Coexist's symbol, the sun and the moon merging, is plastered on every single one.

Swallowing, you move through the automatic doors. Immediately a voice shouts from behind the desk, "We're not taking donations today, please come back tomorrow!"

It's Christopher. He's bent at the computer, clicking away. When he sense you haven't moved, he lifts his head, the tight lines around his eyes and forehead clearing out. "Tori."

"Hi." You raise a hand and step in closer. "Is she still here?"

Christopher's expression is disbelieving. "I didn't think you'd actually come back." He chews his lip and stands, folding his hands together. "You need to leave, though. No Humans allowed today."

You pause. "It's a _Blood_ Bank."

He nods. "Sharp observation. With those skills, I'm sure you also noticed the Coexist logo on the cars outside. There's a meeting being held right now, and Humans are not allowed."

"So Jade _is_ still here." You smile, leaning against the counter that separates you. "I want to see her when she's done."

"Tori, I -"

"Who wants to see Jade?"

The third voice is so close you jump, clinging to the counter as you spin to the left. A man, dressed in threatening (but sadly cliche) black is posed there, arms crossed. He seems made entirely of muscle, skin darker than Christopher's, but with the same radiating brown eyes. He's shorter than you but very broad, with braids ending just at the base of his neck.

"Er." You raise a hand. He studies you, face concrete, before it melts into a surprised smile, followed shortly by a charming laugh. You're not sure how to take this, glancing at Christopher, who doesn't look at all pleased.

"You must be the girl Jade told me about. Her little savior." The man takes a step forward and offers a hand. You take it, albeit slowly and very carefully. His skin is surprisingly warm for a Vampire.

"Uh, I guess? I'm Tori."

The man nods. "Andre Harris. I'm Jade's newly appointed bodyguard, until this whole thing blows over. I'm sorry you won't get a chance to speak with her today - the interrogation will probably -"

"Interrogation?" You look to Christopher. "You said it would it was a meeting."

Christopher's smile flexes slightly. "Ah, yes, I figured that would sound more civil."

"Is she okay?" You look around the corner of the lobby desk.

"She's fine. Just being questioned." Andre settles a hand on your shoulder. "I'll tell her you stopped by."

"No, I said I'd be here. I'll wait."

Christopher's eyes sharpen. "No Humans."

"But -"

"No. Humans. In the _building_." His eyes dart toward the window, where my car sits parked among the Coexist vehicles. "Okay?"

You're almost too heated to notice what he's suggesting, but then you pause, nod, and give a slow smile. "Understood." You turn to Andre. "Nice meeting you." You look to the nurse. "Nice seeing you again."

"Do come back and donate some time," he says, smiling as he waves you off.

You walk into the night again and to your car, huffing slightly as you stare into the windows. Andre stays by the lobby desk, motioning vaguely to Christopher, and you have a distinct feeling they're talking about you.

Whatever. You'll wait. You said you'd be here and you will. Folding your arms behind your head, you get comfortable, singing a song to yourself to pass the time.

_;;_


	8. Lonely

**_Mortality_**

_VIII - Lonely_

_;;_

You don't mean to fall asleep. After calling your mom and saying you're spending the night with Cat (which isn't entirely a lie, you just won't be there until later - _much_ later) you doze off accidentally, head lolling against the rest on your seat. You've never been a night owl. You like sunlight and daytime and you're very in tune with that natural clock Humans have. And so you slip under a thin veil of sleep, your dreams hazy and not strong enough to be remembered later, but certainly thick enough for you to get lost in for almost an hour.

A car door slamming jolts you awake, knuckles blotching white as they strangle the bottom of the steering wheel. Straightening and blinking yourself conscious, you twist toward your fogging window. You swipe a circle clear with your sleeve.

A pair of Vampires are sitting in the car next to yours. They linger for a minute before pulling away. You look toward the Blood Bank again, still streaming light across the parking lot, and see that the lobby is full of more Vampires than you've ever seen at one time, huddled in groups. You see Christopher first behind the lobby desk, arms crossed, and then Andre, leaning on the end of it. His head is turned so you can't see his face, but you can only assume he's talking to Jade.

You duck in your seat, bite your lip, and continue to wait for Jade to emerge from the building. Somehow you think marching into a room full of Vampires demanding to speak to the person they had just been interrogating not to be the best idea.

It takes nearly another half hour for her to come out, Andre leading her. She's taller than him but you can't make out her face, what with her head ducked and a curtain of black hair swinging in front of it.

You grab the door handle and pop it open. They hear you immediately and Andre is _fast_ – his arms extend to block her and you freeze, not feeling like getting tackled by a Vampire by mistake. Seeing you, he instantly lowers his arms, and Jade, huffing, takes a step to the side.

"What is -" She stops. Surprise clears over her face - and what a _face_, you notice. It's almost like seeing an entirely different person and for a minute you think maybe this isn't Jade, that they switched her out with someone who looked similar for her safety. But you know, somehow, somewhere in you, that it's her. Her face is fuller now, rounder, and even in the dark you can make out a healthy glow. Those green eyes shine like tiny Christmas lights beneath two sets of thick, black lashes, which cast long-legged shadows over her cheekbones from the lights of the Blood Bank behind her. Curls of black hair - livelier, full of volume and bounce - straddle her expression in ringlets. A perfectly sculptured eyebrow, the one with the ring in it, perks into a upward arrow. "You," she says, fists settling on her hips.

You had sworn you would handle this meeting better than the last one, that you would act like a person with actual thoughts, but you gape and stutter just like you did last time. She seems amused by it, and Andre is watching you curiously, and you feel the pressure of their too-old stare weighing down on you so hard you almost turn away right then. They're looking at you like you're a child - no, worse, a _pet_, heat billows in your cheeks out of embarrassment.

Determined to get your act together, you shake your head to clear it and swallow. "Hi." Flashing a smile, you nod toward her. "You look better."

Jade's smile flickers at the corner. "I feel better." She looks to Andre. "He said you were here, but I didn't believe him."

Andre's eyes roll.

"I said I would. I don't go back on my word. Besides, I was really worried about you." You offer another smile, but Jade's quickly dissipates.

"You don't even know me."

Her words are sharp, like they could physically slice into your eardrum and saw away. The intensity of her stare urges you to take a step backward, but you remain firm where you stand, meeting her gaze with as much challenge as you can muster. You've always been stubborn, and that works to your advantage here. "I saved your life."

Jade's irises lose themselves in the back of her head as they roll before flicking front and center once more. "Yes, please, by all means, get off of your high horse before it _kicks_ you off. You saved me. I paid back that debt already, remember?"

"I'm not here for a _debt_," you say, voice incredulous.

Andre speaks suddenly - you almost forgot he was there - and the sound of his voice makes you jump. "I'm not supposed to leave your side," he says to Jade, "But I think you'll be okay if I wait in the car, yeah?"

Jade's chin dips down, a shadow in the shape of a triangle crawling across the front of her white shirt. It's been cleaned, but it's the same one she wore last night.

Andre keeps his eye on the two of you as he crawls into a Coexist car and shuts the door. You're not too certain just how superior their hearing is, but you're pretty sure he can probably still hear you despite the distance. You hug your arms to your chest and wait as Jade contemplates you, her stare intrusive and scrutinizing.

"Then why," she says finally, head tilting. "_Are_ you here?"

You set your jaw tightly before speaking, trying to keep your voice even. "Is it that hard to believe that I was genuinely concerned?"

Jade frowns. Eyes narrowing, she studies you again in silence before ending at your eyes. You didn't notice her shoulders had been hunched until they drop suddenly, revealing the long, slender slope of her neck. "Humans are selfish creatures," she mumbles, almost as if she isn't speaking to you, but to herself, or someone you can't see.

"Oh, thank you for furthering that lovely stereotype. I've heard Vampires are soulless hounds of Hell, is that one true?"

Jade looks surprised again - and then she laughs, shoulders shaking with the sound. Which is a very merry one, considering the circumstances.

"Tori Vega, right?" She questions, smiling when I reply only with a nod. "Okay. All right. So you came here in the middle of the night just to check up on me."

You nod again. "Yeah. I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I am." Her smile broadens. "Coexist has set me up with a place to stay that I can't reveal for my own safety. While I'm locked away in hiding, they're going to try and find my crazy ex-boyfriend before shit hits the fan. And, if they do, they'll probably be executed, and then I'll be able to go on with my life." She raises her eyebrows again. "Satisfied?"

Your lips part, but nothing comes out. What more were you expecting, really? You're not sure - you came to see if she was okay and she clearly is. Coexist has a plan and they're going to take care of this mess probably before the public even hears about it. Now that you can see she's alive, you have no reason to stay, to bother her any more.

But you don't want to leave.

"Uhm, no. I mean, yes, but I, uhm." You fidget. "I just, uhm, I don't know. I thought -"

"What? That we would be friends?" Jade scoffs, shaking her head. "Look, you saved my life. I've already thanked you for that. But I don't - that's not my thing, all right?" She looks at you seriously, her hand cutting in front of her like a knife. "I don't make friends with Humans. I really don't make friends period, but especially not Human ones."

"Why?" You frown when you look at her and, for a very short moment, you almost see something like regret in her eyes, like she's sorry she's hurting you.

That doesn't stop her from continuing, though. "Because as much as Coexist would like both of us to be convinced that we can live in harmony, we can't. We will always be separate and, honestly, it's safer that way. Besides," she says, swinging her foot in the direction of Andre's car. "I try not to make a habit of growing attached to something that I will outlive."

She starts to walk away. You watch her in silence for a moment, knowing that this could very well by the last time you ever see her, and you want the moment to last a little longer. "Must be lonely, then," you say and she stops, spinning on her heel. "Being a Vampire, I mean."

She twitches a smile that's more of a frown at you. "Oh, like you can't imagine."

"Can I see you again?" You call after her, to which she shakes her head and laughs, looking over her shoulder once more to study you with confusion.

"Sure, Vega. You can see me." She opens the passenger side door of the car, the Coexist logo flashing against the light from the Blood Bank. "If you can find me, that is."

With a wink, she melts into the car. Andre pulls out of the parking lot, red tail lights disappearing around the corner of the building.

You don't see Jade West again for six months. In six months, you start college, star in a commercial, and perform the lead in a play. In six months, you're working, doing homework, auditioning, practicing, hanging out with Cat and Robbie, being a daughter and a sister and a singer and a Human, sleeping at night while being a person of sun during the day. Once again, you are removed from the Vampire world, your lines having crossed once but going on in different directions, infinitely.

You almost forget about the green-eyed Vampire in those six months.

But the moon has other plans.

_;;_


	9. Lines

__**A/N:** I realize I didn't update yesterday, so I made up for it by making this chapter 2,000 words. Enjoy.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Mortality<strong>_

_IX - Lines_

_;;_

Christmas break means finally getting away from your obnoxious roommate and sleeping in your own bed, which you never thought you would miss as much as you have, and eating food made by your mom, and escaping finals and papers and reading and most responsibility - even work, since you're employed on campus which is shut down until mid-January. It means hanging out with Cat and Robbie every day, blowing your money on Christmas gifts and stuff you really don't need all in the spirit of the giving season, it means going to the movies and eating junk food and getting hit on by guys.

It means living the Human life you've always lived.

But now that you're home, you pass the Karaoke Dokie sometimes, and the Blood Bank, and six months feels like yesterday and there you are, standing in the parking lot, talking to a Vampire you'll probably never see again.

It's not like you were out of the Vampire world completely. You have a Vampire woman for a Drama professor at college. She's really nice and one of the younger Vampires you've heard about - only forty, and she looks about nineteen. She's a baby compared to her Vampire brethren, and although you don't know the specifics of why she Changed, you know that she's lonely because she doesn't really fit in with either group. You feel bad for her.

Being around her made you think of Jade, obviously. The ashen skin, the pulsing irises that all but shine out light in the dark - if she looked at you the right way, in the midst of a lesson about the importance of subtle facial expressions, and the light hit her just so, making those hazel eyes more green, and her hair a little darker, it was Jade standing in front of you with a smile on her face. But then you remember that Jade was not a smiley creature, let alone a nice one, and you're back in the present in front of a different Vampire in a different place and a different time.

You never heard about the Immortalis on TV. You're not sure if Coexist was just really good at sweeping it under the rug or if they had already caught the underground revolt and didn't bother giving the Human public more reason to fear Vampires. You figured it was for the better, since your parents and your sister eventually forgot all about it. You never told Cat or Robbie, and you don't tell your new friends about your very brief entanglement with the Vampire world, even though you know they'd be interested in hearing about it. Like you, most Humans know so little about Vampires. They tend to keep to themselves, living out their immortality with each other, and putting up walls to both protect themselves from Humans and Humans from them.

You didn't expect to ever see Jade again, though. If she was that intent on staying away from you, it wouldn't be hard. It's not like you could just find her - though you did go to the Blood Bank a few times after she left that night, just to see if she would show up for any reason - but the efforts were fruitless. If she didn't want to be found, there was no way for you to get a hold of her. And it was easy to just accept that in the daylight when you were busy with school and work and papers and tests and stuff, but as soon as the sun yawned over the horizon and the moon dominated the sky again, you would stare out of your dorm window in envy and wonder where she was, what she was doing, if she was in trouble again, what if she needed someone to save her again?

You accepted, though, that your life was always destined to be separate from hers. From Vampire's as a whole. Even now that you're home, that doesn't change anything, because in three weeks you'll be back at school and the cycle will repeat itself until you either graduate or make it big.

You accept you won't find her. You accept that she definitely won't try to find you. You have long since erased the possibility of ever running into her when you do.

Just like that, her lines and your lines cross again, only this time it's not just at one point. They get tangled. They tie themselves up until you can't tell where yours and hers begin and end anymore.

Christmas is in a week. You and Robbie and Cat are driving to a holiday party at a mutual friend's house, with white elephant gifts and promises of games, Christmas movies, and meeting new people. Arriving at the house, you're surprised at just how many cars there are, even more surprised at the amount of people crammed into the single-story house. "Are we at the right place?" You question Cat, grabbing her elbow before the immense crowd can swallow her up. She assures you that you are. You've already lost Robbie, and on your way to find the party host, you lose Cat, too. You say hi to a few groups of people as you set your gift on a large pile in the kitchen, and that's when you see the booze.

You're not sure how you didn't notice the cups everyone was holding, or the smell, for that matter, but suddenly your stomach drops. You don't drink. It's not like drinking offends you in any way, it's just not something you want to be associated with, especially since you're underage and being Human already makes it difficult for you to get into show business. You don't want anything like that marring your record, so you've always steered clear of it.

Feeling uncomfortable, you search for Cat and Robbie, finding them to be much more happy about the party than you are. Cat's already flirting with a pair of boys and Robbie is playing some kind of vicious video game in a spare room with some guys. Plucking at the bells on your sweater, you decide to wait outside until the party dies down or maybe until it's over - if the police show up, you could at least get away pretty fast. Easing your way through the crowd, you drink in the cool night air as you drop off of the porch and walk to your car. You lean against the hood, feeling stupid, out of place - why can't you be a normal eighteen-year-old and get wasted and have fun? - but you can't bring yourself to risk everything you've ever wanted in lieu of the typical teenage experience. So you sit and cross your arms and wait.

Cat texts you a little while later, asking you where you are, and you're in the midst of explaining when the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. It's almost like an instinct, an innate reflex that you can't control - you know you're being watched. Body frigid, you whip around and -

"I _thought_ I smelled you."

At first, you think you're hallucinating. You even blink a few times to make sure, but then something like a laugh and a gasp rattles out of you, and you say, "Jade," because it's all you can.

She's alone and dressed in tight jeans that disappear into long black boots. Her top is snug and a deep maroon with studs curving along the sides, giving it a corset kind of look, and a chunky necklace resting atop her breasts. Full, black swirls of hair fall down her face just as you remember them, one curling around her jaw when a slight breezes moves between you and her.

Your breath has stopped and you're sure your heart has, too, because it's her just standing there in the sidewalk - serendipity at its finest.

Jade is smirking, expression amused, as her boots click against the cement with her advancement. "Tori Vega," she muses, a laugh in her voice as she comes to stand just a yard or so in front of you. Thumbs hook into the belt loops of her jeans, weight settling on one hip. "Small world, hm?"

You gape in silence, eyes jumping between those two green orbs of light, which are so much sharper than your memory gave them credit for. "I can't believe it," you say, laughing openly. "I was convinced I'd never see you again."

The Vampire cocks her head, eyes traveling briefly to the loud house across the street. "Partying?"

You don't take your eyes off of her for a moment, afraid that she might dissolve into thin air if you do. "What? Oh. Well. I thought it was a different kind of party. So I'm just waiting out here for my friends." You push off of your car, trying to think of something to say, to word something right, to try and redeem yourself after how stupid you acted six months ago. "I just, wow. How are you? Where's your body guard?"

"Andre?" Jade chuckles. "If he were Human, he'd probably be having a heart attack trying to find me. I convinced him to take me to a Blood Bar - just to relax, you know?" You nod. "I've been cooped up in that stupid house for months for 'my own good', says the Coexist bastards, but as soon as we got there I took off." She shrugs. "Been wandering ever since."

"Wow," you say again, shaking your head. "This is so weird. I've thought about you a lot since the summer." You realize a moment too late how creepy that sounds, shaking your head. "I mean, you know, I just, you disappeared, and I never got a chance to get to know you, and, yeah. It sounds, like, super creepy when I say it like that, but -"

"I don't think you're creepy." Jade's laughing again, eyes small from her smile. "Strange, yes, a very odd little Human, but not creepy. I've actually thought about you too, sometimes. Andre hardly let me forget that I was alive because of a Mortal." She shrugs again, and your heart is pounding so hard you know it's impossible she can't hear it, and a moment later she confirms those thoughts by saying, "Shit, give the ticker a break before I have to take _you_ to a hospital."

"Sorry," you say, looking over your shoulder briefly at the house, and then back to her. "This is going to sound, like, kind of weird, but, uhm, they're probably going to be in there for a while yet and I was just wondering, you know, if you wanted to, like, get to know each other." You motion between you and her. "If you wanted, of course."

Jade's face grows eerily stone-ish, like she's become a statue before you. You never noticed the tell-tale signs of living because you're so often with Humans - the constant motion of breathing, the way Humans are always fidgeting and blushing and gasping and things like that, things that Vampires just don't do - and looking at Jade right now, with the moon making her skin ghost-white, reminds you again that she is not Alive and you are.

But then she gives a tug of a smile and rolls her shoulders in another shrug. "Why the hell not? It's better than being locked up with Andre for another six months, right?"

You don't realize you're grinning like an idiot until your cheeks start to grow sore with the intensity. Fishing into your purse for keys, you unlock the car with a loud _beep_. "Okay, yeah, awesome, that's great. Uh, yeah, there's a park a few blocks over that we could go to, is that okay?"

Jade is clicking her way to the passenger door. "Sure, Vega. Whatever pleases you."

The words echo in your head long after she says them, the car purring to life when the doors close, and she smells thick of perfume, the scent filling the car, and you almost forget how to drive because she's watching you and it's not fair but somehow you slide away from the house, into the dark, under the moon.

_;;_


	10. Swings

_**Mortality**_

_X - Swings_

_;;_

Like you imagined, there are no children at the park at this time of night. There is a group of teenagers off in one corner, huddled together with smoke curling above their hoods, but as soon as Jade emerges from the other side of your car, all bright eyes and radiating skin, they scuttle off. You watch Jade's face as they do, wondering if she would find it funny or insulting, but you're surprised to see the slightest trickle of _hurt_ in the way her sharp eyebrows crunch over her nose.

Much like the car ride to the park, she remains silent as you walk an arm's width beside her to the swingset. There are benches, but this is where you would have wanted to sit had you been with your friends, and you don't want to treat her any differently. You lower into the shorter of the two and grip the cool metal links before beginning to rock on your heels. Jade is still standing, and you raise your eyebrows up at her as she studies first you and then the empty swing.

"I haven't sat on one of those in probably a hundred years," she suddenly blurts, looking to you again. You don't know what to say, simply staring at her, waiting for her to decide whether or not she wants to break that swing-less streak of hers. Finally, the Vampire shrugs her shoulders, takes each chain, and slowly lowers herself to the curving seat. She doesn't move for a minute after that, eyes vacant and glowing off in the distance, and she's so pretty that you can't bring yourself to say anything so as not to break the picture. But then she twists her neck at you and stretches her legs, pushing her back. Lifting her feet, she swings forward, and the most real smile you've ever seen on her blossoms on her lips.

"So," Jade says, tilting her head so pieces of black hair crawl along the pale expanse of her neck. "What do you want to know?"

It takes you a minute to think up anything, and the first question you have is the least original one you can think of. "I know you probably hate this question," you begin, "but I have to ask. How old are you?"

Thankfully, Jade doesn't react negatively. She actually chuckles and pushes herself backward again, allowing gravity to swing her forward. "Who is the oldest Vampire you know of?"

You think in silence for a minute. "Father Berghstrom. You know, that priest on TV. He says he's over two hundred."

Jade's lips curl into a tight smile. "Would you believe me if I told you I was older than that?"

You look at her disbelievingly. You've always known that Vampires have been a part of history as long as Humans have, though no one can say for sure the 'cause', or the who the 'original' Vampire was. But, from what you know, they've been killed off pretty steadily by Hunters the past couple hundred years, leaving few ancient ones like Father Berghstrom. If she's over two hundred years old like she's claims, then she's seen so much more than you could even imagine. She's witnessed history and the evolution of society and who even _knows_ what else. One time, when you were twelve, you and your family took a vacation to D.C., where you went to all kinds of museums. At one stop you saw the Declaration of Independence and you thought it was so neat to see something that was there and had survived this long, but Vampires are walking, breathing, living beings that can _talk_ to you about it.

You're so overwhelmed that nearly a minute has gone by with you just gaping at her like a moron, so you quickly straighten yourself up and mimic her movements on the swing. "I have no reason not to trust you."

Jade's expression flexes at that, eyes narrowing not in a condescending way but in a truly curious one. "We'll leave it at that, then. Two hundred plus."

"I'll be nineteen in June," you say, and you grin when Jade laughs an open-mouthed, throaty sound. "Okay, your turn."

Jade leans back in her swing, black hair nearly tumbling to the ground below. "Hm. What are you going to school for?"

You perk your brows. "How do you know I'm going to school?"

The Vampire laughs. "Acquiring excellent observation skills is required when one wants to live as long as I do. You have a sticker on your back window."

"You could be a detective."

She laughs again. The sound seems to surprise her, looking at you with the same contemplative look as before. "So, what is it, then?"

"Drama." You smile. "Well, the big dream would be to become an international pop star - corny and childish, I know - but I'd settle for being an actress, too. Or I could straddle both, like Miley Cyrus."

Jade shakes her head. "Now _that's_ a Vampire I wouldn't mind roasting in the sun."

It's your turn to chuckle. "Don't like famous Vampires?"

She shrugs in response. "I don't much like anyone, but any person who can sing about partying in the USA deserves a good sunburn, in my opinion."

You start to laugh, only for long forgotten information surfacing to the front of your brain again. Talking about the burning somehow made you remember, and all humor drains from your voice when you speak again. "My turn."

"Shoot."

"Whatever happened to the Immortalis?"

Jade stiffens. Sitting straight in the swing, she plants her feet on the ground and her elbows on her knees, clasping her hands in a gun-like shape before resting her chin on her thumbs. A sigh deflates her chest. "I'm not supposed to talk about it. I'm surprised Coexist didn't make you swear on your mother's life not to talk about it, either."

"Have they not been caught yet?"

Jade pauses only for a moment before slowly shaking her head. "No. They moved their hideout. Coexist managed to get their hands on one guy, and he's locked up right now, but he won't crack."

"Why haven't they told the public? Don't we deserve to know?"

Her green eyes sharpen on their way back to you. Her expression is nothing but stone, harsh and unfeeling. "Humans are rash creatures, Vega. We need to protect ourselves."

Your eyebrows crook down. "And what about us? Are we just supposed to hope you guys can handle it?"

The tight muscles in her jaw loosen a bit as she looks away. And then she's slumping over again, seriousness gone. "I really wouldn't worry about it. We've got it under control."

You stand up. Without a word, you begin marching toward your car, but something icy and hard makes your entire body jerk backward. You twist around and Jade is openly staring at you, face blank aside from the slightest dip of one corner of her mouth.

"What?" She looks confused, and you get the feeling that this isn't normal for her.

"I don't want to sit here and be talked to like Humans don't matter. Like _I_ don't matter."

"I never said that," she counters sharply, but she doesn't release your wrist.

You step closer to her. "Not all Humans are rash, Jade, just like not all Vampires are like the Immortalis."

She studies you in silence for a time. The breeze sings through the tree branches above you, creaking the now empty swings. You watch her face as it grows more and more cold, a conflict in those simmering eyes, and then she releases your wrist and takes a step back.

"I'm starting to see that," she says, cocking her head back toward the swing. "Tell me more about gentle, compassionate Humans like yourself."

You stare at her, knowing that there is a line here you're about to cross. The safe route would be turning around and getting in your car and putting all of this Vampire mess behind you, because being ignorant is easy.

But you step forward, cross that line, and sit on the swing beside her, not entirely aware of what you're getting into.

_;;_


	11. Scared

**_Mortality_**

_XI - Scared_

_;;_

It starts out slow. At least, you like to think it does. You don't see her the night after that one at the park, where you spent nearly two hours talking and laughing with her, telling her about college and your friends and boring Human things that Mortals do, like working nine to five and sunblock and fast food restaurants. She didn't tell you all that much in response, but she listened to every word like you were the most interesting person she'd ever met. You have to remind yourself that she hasn't been Human in a very long time, that what seems mundane to you is very foreign to her now, that it was like listening to stories of some far away place.

Andre had found the two of you. He was surprised to see you and tried to be polite while, at the same time, demanding Jade come back with him to The Hole. You know that place - it's a Blood Bar downtown. You've driven past it a few times and remember it by its distinguishable pair of neon fangs illuminating the door's window. Jade had been irritated, but then your phone announced a call with loud beeping, and it was Cat, and she was drunk, and she said Robbie was starting to strip, and you needed to go pick them up anyway.

Jade asked for a pen when you were by your car. Confused, you dug around in your glove box until you found one, which she used to scribble a number on the inside of your wrist with. She had smiled and waved before walking away, Andre tight to her side, and you were breathless.

You wait three days before calling her. You're sure you read in a magazine once that three days is the appropriate time to hold out because calling any sooner makes you seem desperate. It's a rough three days, though; you sleep a lot, if just to wake up and know that you're that much closer to seeing her again. You're constantly snatching up your phone, thinking, what the hell, I'll call her now, but you talk yourself out of it, pinching your phone between your knees and distracting yourself with TV or food.

Since you're spending so much time with Cat and Robbie again, the opportunities to spill everything to them comes up more than once. You almost do a couple of times, because listening to the two of them talk about how hung over they were the day after the party or how many people they kissed or how sick the music was is so ... Human. And, yeah, it's not like you're suddenly less Human just because you have a kind of Vampire friend, but still. If you told them, the conversations would be so much more ... _spicy_.

But you don't. You hoard your secret and say nothing to no one about Jade, about the nighttime, about how you can't stop thinking about her, imaging her perfect face washed white in the moonlight, and her green eyes, and the canines you've only seen once but are particularly vivid in your memory and -

A part of you knows it's stupid and probably dangerous, but that doesn't stop you from calling her on the evening of the third day, hands shaking, crossed legs bouncing on your bed.

She answers on the third ring. "West," is all she says, and you've forgotten how to talk - you've forgotten the very function of your mouth, and then she hangs up.

"Darn," you say, sucking in a breath and dialing the number (which you saved on a piece of paper under your pillow) once again.

Six rings go by this time. Then, "If you don't fucking talk I will rip your esophagus out and use it as a straw."

"Jade?" You squeak, and a bullet of silence shoots through the phone.

"Jesus pissing _Christ_, Tori. I thought you were a goddamn _hitman_ or something, trying to track my phone."

You give a weak laugh. "Nope. Boring little me, actually."

"Be a little more forward next time." The Vampire covers the receiver, voice muffled for a few moments before she comes back. "Sorry. Andre's being an overbearing mother over here."

You think you hear Andre's irritated voice trying to protest. Chuckling, you ask, "He lives with you all the time?"

The phone whistles with a loud sigh. "Unfortunately. Until they catch my psychotic ex-boyfriend and his group of crazies, Andre's my live-in nanny." There's a pause, then, "Love you too, Andre."

"Oh," you chirp, sweaty hands clenching in your lap. "Oh, I didn't realize you were, uhm, uh, like that with him -"

"What? No! Tori, oh my God." She's laughing harder than you've ever heard, practically wheezing into the phone. "God, _no_, Tori. Andre would rather bake in the sun than even give me a _hug, _let alone kiss me on the face or anything. Christ, did you hear that, Andre?"

There's a distinct male grumbling but you can't detect the words.

"Anyway, what's up, Blood Sack?"

You blink at the term. You've heard it used in Vampire movies before but didn't know it was actually something they used in every day life. It's obviously a phrase coined towards Humans but you're not sure if you are supposed to be offended by it. Jade's tone was playful enough, so you decide not to look too deeply into it. "Not much ..." you trail, trying to find a similar term. "Night Walker," you finish.

Jade laughs, a throaty, deep sound. "I haven't heard that one since the seventies."

You try to picture her dressed in an outfit you saw your mom wearing in an old picture from her junior high years - it's so hysterical imagining dark, mysterious Jade in fluorescent orange and bell-bottoms that you almost snort into the phone.

"What are you doing tonight?" You blurt before you can give yourself time to reconsider.

"Being Undead," she replies smoothly.

"What do you think about being Undead in my company?"

She hisses. "Oh, I don't know if Sister Andre would allow that." There's another muffling sound and the distinct low tone of Andre's grumbling, and then Jade's voice fills your ears again. "Mom says I can go, but only if he tags along." She sounds disappointed and that makes your beating little heart swell because she wants to be _alone_ with you.

"That's okay. That's fine. Where do you want me to meet you?"

There's a few beats of silence and you're not sure how but you know Jade is grinning slyly into the phone. "The Hole."

You blink. Rear your head back and frown. "What?"

"The Hole."

"The Blood Bar?"

"No, Andre's asshole. Yes, the Blood Bar."

"But -"

"Last time we went to a very Human park," she interjects, tone sharp. "We sat on swings for fuck's sake. I didn't complain."

"Well, I ..." You drift, feeling goosebumps chase over your arms. You've only seen Blood Bars the way movies depict them - lots of public sex and groping and feverish dancing in a room full of glowing deathless people and wine glasses spilling over with artificial blood and open feeding and other taboo, kinky things that are all whispered and hushed under breaths, beneath rugs.

"Scared, Vega?"

Her voice is challenging, teasing - _flirting_, you think, and you're sure that even through the phone she can hear your heart pounding like a drummer on ecstasy.

"No." Your back straightens. "I'll meet you out front at nine o' clock."

"Delicious," the Vampire chuckles in reply, and then the line hums dead.

You swear you feel her icy breath on your ear as you lower the phone, a chill aching across your skin. Outside, the silver crescent of the moon winks at you through smoky clouds.

_;;_


	12. Vampire Territory

**_Mortality_**

_XII - Vampire Territory_

_;;_

On the night of your senior prom you practically asphyxiated yourself trying to find the right dress. You dragged your poor mother from store to store for four days and nearly drove each other bonkers in the process before finally settling on a purple gown with too much glitter on top that your date didn't even compliment. You swore you were going to get married in your pajamas after that disaster because so much fuss over a dress you were going to wear once simply wasn't worth the stress.

But this is worse. This is a thousand times worse.

You spend two hours destroying your closet. This top with those jeans, this skirt with this shirt, mixing and matching and throwing things together like you're a fashion student instead of a drama one and your room looks like a hurricane paid a visit by the time you've reached your breaking point, sitting cross-legged in the middle of your bedroom floor with your head in your hands.

You can't help but think that Jade is not having this problem. She'd look incredible in anything. She'd wow you to death if she showed up wrapped in Walmart bags. She's a Vampire. They don't need the extra help like Mortals do.

And that's what you are. An ordinary, not-glowing, not-flawless Human who desperately needs a good outfit to further your appearance just by virtue of your Aliveness.

What if she is, though? What if she wants to impress you, too?

You scoff at the very idea that someone as old and as suave as Jade could possibly want to impress the likes of you, a toddler - no, an _infant_ - compared to her. She's seen things you can only dream of and read about in books. She's been in the company of millions of people from several generations and there's no way she hasn't seen a more beautiful man or woman. You likely don't even register on the scale.

But why, then, would she agree to go out with you?

You suck in a cold breath. Go out with you? Phrasing it like that implies something. Go out. Like a _date_. You had somehow convinced yourself that you just wanted to hang out, but no one wants to just hang out with a Vampire. With someone like Jade. No, your interests go further than that, as scared as you are to admit it. How could anyone blame you, really? All anyone would have to do is look at her for five seconds.

It's more than that, though. You feel your chest tighten. It's not just the fact that she's so gorgeous she's deadly - it's the way she grins at you in the moonlight, and licks the corner of her lips, and talks to you in that smooth, controlled tone of hers, and, well, jeez, she agreed to _go out with you_.

Her intentions could be sour. You know that. But you could say that about anyone you meet, really. You're not sure what kind of ulterior motive she could have - if she wanted to kill you, she had a perfectly good opportunity to do that six months ago. You're not rich. You're not famous - yet - and there's nothing you have that she could possibly want. So it has to be you, right?

You like to think so.

Heart thudding, you shift through your clothes again, one by one, and finally, painfully, come to a decision. The top is violet and ruffled and to counter the night's chill you sport a black, long-sleeved button up with it, a pair of midnight jeans that spill over your hardest-to-walk-in boots. You end up hating it when it's all thrown together but it's almost 8:30 and you really don't have any time to drive yourself completely crazy.

Your dad stops you at the foot of the stairs. He's immediately suspicious - "Why are you dressed like _that_? What boy are you seeing?" - and he's so defensive about something so Human that you almost start laughing. If he only knew. You _could_ tell him and your mom where you're really going and who you're going with but your dad would sooner lock you in a tower and your poor mother would probably have a heart attack. As understanding as they act when it comes to Vampires, they're still confused and scared of them and look at them through a different lens. They went through the hell following the big Reveal, all of the riots and parades and death and the night becoming something to be afraid of. You don't see Vampires that way. You never have. Your first real impression of Vampires on a personal level has been Jade, and even though your initial meeting was one of the scariest moments of your life, you can't help but think of it as a positive one, too.

You tell him you're going out with Cat and Robbie before planting a kiss on his cheek and leaving. You haven't eaten since before you called Jade because you were positive you'd only puke it up out of nerves and now you're feeling pretty grateful for keeping your stomach empty because you can feel it knotting inside of you in the worst way as you navigate the streets as safely as you can under the circumstances. The Hole comes up on you too soon - lit up like a star and the parking lot is packed, the street is loaded on both sides, and you have to park at a closed pharmacy almost a block away. Your phone tells you it's 9:04 when you come hustling around the corner of the Hole, pausing in the shadows to peek out at the front entrance, saddled with two female guards that are practically candles against the darkness. You can hear the music thrumming through the cement walls. There's no sign of Jade or Andre, but you can see a group coming from the opposite direction of mostly Vampires but with a few, average looking Humans, too, laughing and smiling and climbing the stairs to the door where the guards check IDs before letting them in.

It's really no different than Human clubs, but this is Vampire territory. This is a part of their world that few Mortals get to experience. This is stuff you've only seen in movies so don't freak yourself out, okay, just keep breathing and stay calm and don't make an idiot out of yourself when she gets here and -

"This looks familiar," a cold breath whispers in your ear, goosebumps racing across your flesh. "Except my hands aren't around your neck this time."

_;;_


	13. The Hole

**_Mortality_**

_XIII - The Hole_

_;;_

"Jesus, Jade, you _do_ know that it is possible for Humans to die of fear, right?"

Jade laughs. She's still pretty close to your ear, close enough that you can feel the rustle of her unnecessary breath fluttering against your neck, and then she's whirling around in front of you. You're absently aware of Andre moving past you, shaking his head and grumbling in what you assume to be disapproval, but you're far too distracted with the Vampire in front of you. Like you suspected, she looks amazing - her black jeans and sinfully deep-v'd emerald top makes you feel overdressed. It's like Christmas lights run through her instead of veins the way her skin is illuminated; you swear she's emanating enough light to make you squint. Her ebony curls are gathered on one shoulder, the other bare, her long white arms coming to a halt with her slender hands cupped on her hips.

A loud breath rips through you. "Hi." It's the first thing you can think to say, and she laughs again.

"Hi." She tosses her chin over her shoulder, toward The Hole. "You ready?"

You glance nervously toward the club.

"Don't worry. I won't let you out of my sight, Blood Bag."

She's holding out her arm. You stare at it, then her and her raised eyebrows, the studded one catching in the light coming off of her, and then you slowly take the offered limb. Even through the material of your jacket you can feel the distinct chill of her, like you're walking beside an ice sculpture.

"That's not a very charming term of endearment, you know," you say, watching her out of the corner of your eye as her lip curls into a smirk.

"What would you prefer? Sunshine, perhaps?"

"That seems fitting."

Her arm squeezes yours, pulling you closer. "All right. Sunshine it is."

Andre leads the two of you up the stairs and to the guards, where they patiently wait for you to fish your wallet out of your back pocket so you can prove you're old enough to be there. Since you're not twenty-one, the younger (looking) of the two women tells you firmly that if they see you even sniff a drink, you'll be tossed out. You nod, having had no intentions of drinking in the first place. To be honest, you didn't even know Blood Bars served alcohol. As far as you know, Vampires don't - can't - drink, or get drunk, for that matter. You forget that Humans are welcome here, an idea that's reinforced when you notice the Coexist emblem on the doors as you pass through.

It's loud. The music is modern, current, a familiar bass keeping time in your chest. You don't know why you expected it to be a dark place - probably Vampire stereotypes that, yes, even you, who have grown up in a Coexisting generation, still acknowledge - but the place is filled with all kinds of different colored lights, streaming and crossing the floors and walls. There's a bar to your right shaped like a horseshoe, the dance floor and a stage to your left, where a Human DJ is bent over spinning disks and flashing buttons.

But what really has your attention is the overwhelming amount of Vampires in the room.

They're everywhere. Grinding one another on the floor, sitting on stools at the bar, scattered throughout the club in small groups with bottles of synthetic blood in their hands. You thought that day at the Blood Bank was a crowd - it's nothing compared to this. They're right next to you, brushing your arm, talking, laughing, singing over you, they're bartenders and waitresses and dancers and you almost spin yourself dizzy trying to look at all of them because they're all so gorgeous you can't breathe. And you feel so pitifully ordinary, so average and boring and _Human_ that you almost regret coming at all.

"Hey."

You spin back to her, Jade, and she's leaning in close so you can hear her, but you think she's a little too close even for that and your very Alive heart is crashing in your ears when you notice just how deep her green eyes go.

"You okay?" She's still holding your arm. Her eyebrow is raised.

"Yeah." You swallow hard, and you don't regret coming, not even for a moment, because out of all the beautiful creatures in the room, Jade is standing close to _you_. "Just a little out of my element."

She smiles. "Welcome to the Nightlife, kid." With a wink, she pulls you farther into the crowd, away from the door. You can make out Andre among the throng of people, arms crossed, eyes scanning back and forth like a predator.

You lean close to Jade, even though she can probably hear every little breath you make despite the noise, "Is he always like that?"

"What? Protective? Yeah. It's his job. He was an assassin before he Turned."

"I was _not_ an assassin," he shoots back. "I was a special agent."

Jade's eyes roll before meeting yours. "Mr. Big Shot here worked for the CIA -"

"FBI."

" - before he was Turned in the fifties. He's all kinds of fierce and shit. Bastard doesn't even need a gun."

"You haven't been attacked by your ex-boyfriend's band wagon of nuts, have you?" Andre perks his eyebrows. "That's my job now. To keep you safe until the wack-jobs are imprisoned."

The humor drains from Jade's face. You watch as that familiar stoniness starts to collect in her jaw, her arm loosening from yours. "Thanks, nanny," she says, before darting her chin toward the bar. "Mind if my date and I have some time to ourselves?"

Your heart stops. Or does something unnatural, because both Vampire glance quickly at you before returning to themselves.

_My date_. Oh, God.

Andre is leveling his gaze at Jade sharply, exchanging unspoken words. The silent conversation is well over your head, not that you can really think straight because, holy cow, Jade just called you her date and oh have mercy -

"Don't let her out of your sight," Andre says, and it takes you a moment to realize he's talking to you, not her. You swallow, nod, and then he's gone, surveying the crowd and walking laps around the bar.

"Date?" You squeak, and Jade grins at you as she leads you toward the bar. You sit tentatively on one of the tall, spinning stools, having to grab the edge of the counter to keep yourself from falling right over.

"What do you think I invited you here for? A snack?"

A blush burns your cheeks. "Jade. I'm Human."

"Your powers of observation amaze me, Sunshine." She sits next to you, one elbow on the bar counter, face in her hand. She's smiling at you, silky and dark and, goodness, your heart has never sounded so loud. "So what? I'm not asking you to marry me. We're just getting to know each other. Having fun. It's been a long time since I made friends with a Human, and dare I say I'm the first Vampire you've really spoken to?"

You think of your drama teacher back at school, wondering if she really counts, but you nod anyway.

"Don't think so much. Your life is short, Vega. Live in the moment." She turns toward the bartender, a bald Vampire with huge arms. "A bottle of water and a tap of AB positive."

You study her glowing profile as the bartender gathers your drinks and you're not scared anymore. She's right. Your life is a blip compared to hers. You might as well try to make it a bright one.

_;;_


	14. Cure

**_Mortality_**

_XIV - Cure_

_;;_

You've always liked dancing. Music works like electricity in your veins. You can't _not_ dance once the music starts. It's impossible. But the kind of dancing you're used to is controlled, every move sharp and calculated. You've always been taught choreography. You've never been one to try and make it yourself.

So when Jade takes you by the wrist, the chill of her fingers seeping down to your bones, and asks if you want to dance, you say yes. Not just because, uhm, hello, you would be dancing within close proximity of Jade, but because you're absolutely confident in your dancing skills. You didn't make it into a prestigious art school for nothing.

It doesn't occur to you until you and Jade are about to be consumed by the body of people moving as one that the kind of dancing you're used to doesn't apply here. First of all, this is a club, this is a_ Blood Bar_, more specifically, not a stage. You're not performing a dance routine that you've had the privilege to practice for several weeks. This is instant, on the spot, not right in front of, but_ right next to_ everyone else in the room. Secondly, and more importantly, you're dancing in front of Jade.

You choke. Halt. Feet catching on the floor, Jade stops and looks back at you, a muted red light falling across her face. It'd be devilish if she wasn't so unbelievably sexy.

The word burns your cheeks bright pink.

"What?" She steps closer again. A loud song with a great, thrumming bass is vibrating your feet. "You don't want to dance anymore?"

"No. I mean, yeah, I do, I just -"

"Ah, that's right." Jade's lips curl into a tight grin. "This is up close and personal dancing, yeah? You're not used to that kind of thing."

You bite your lip and watch the way her pupils flicker to watch you do it. Something in you pounds but it sounds too bold to be your heart.

"Don't worry, Sunshine." It's the second time tonight she's tried to reassure you. The hand holding your wrist moves to cup your waist, a cold shock straightening your spine. "I'll keep you close."

Breathing is such a simple concept, but it's a whole different story when one is standing so close to Jade West and you can feel her breath on your neck. It takes the function right out of you.

Somehow, Jade manages to snake her way through the throng of people. There's so many of them, the smell of Human sweat drenching the air, damp skin sliding against the material of your button-up. It's hot and clustered and tight. With all the flashing, slipping lights, it's hard to tell who's Alive and who isn't; you suppose it doesn't matter in a place like this.

As soon as Jade stops in the midst of the crowd and turns to face you, those green eyes are the only ones you're paying attention to. You wonder if, even with the blaring music and the dozens of bodies slamming into them, she can hear your frantic heartbeat hurtling unmercifully against your ribcage. Because she's looking at _you_ - not one of the likely supermodel-esque Vampires that she clearly has more in common with - no. She's looking at you. She's wrapping her arms around your waist. She's tilting her lips close to your ear and whispering, sinfully, "_Feel it_."

You're not quite sure what she means until your eyes involuntarily close. The music spills into your lungs like air, accelerating through your bloodstream like a virus - no, a cure, a remedy. It's so much more than choreography. It's bigger and louder and braver than a dance you've learned step by step.

It's now. It's right _now_.

She's moving against you. Cold, close, real. Her hands make your hips shiver and it's not just from her low temperature. You hardly notice the guy who bumps into your back, don't hear his apology, because your eyes are opening and they're staring into pits of emerald. You know Vampires don't need to breathe, but Jade looks breathless to you, like she can't remember how to be Undead, either.

Your fingers pluck at the buttons of your overthrow, trembling but quick. You want to feel more of her. On you, in you - you gasp at the thought, so dirty, so unlike you, but you're beginning to realize that Jade makes you someone else. And that's scary but exciting, like bungee jumping. Like swimming with sharks. You don't want anything more than necessary to keep her cool flesh from yours. The button-up droops to the floor and you're pretty sure it was one of Trina's hand-me-downs anyway so when it's thoroughly stepped on and eventually disappears altogether, you don't really care to mind. There's also the fact that Jade is touching you again, _grinding_ against you, and that has a brilliant effect on you.

She turns you so your back is flush against her chest. You can feel the swell of her breasts, the dip of her pelvis, her tight fingers on your hipbones. You dance, you move, you swing your Alive body with hers and, though you're certain you imagined it, you can almost swear you hear her moan into your hair.

Your eyes open again. At first, all you see is lights, blinking, washing over the crowd. Jade's lips are on your ear. They're soft, petal-like, and you're about to let your head fall on her shoulder when you see it.

Them, rather. A Vampire male and a dancing Human, a girl, no older than you. They're intimately close, much like you and Jade right now, but she's arching her neck in a way that you immediately recognize, even though you've never witnessed a Feeding before.

You can't see his teeth. You're too far away. But you do see the way the girl's body first flinches and then melts when his mouth comes to her neck. You see her eyes fluttering, her mouth opening with a sound you can't hear. Pain? Pleasure?

Considering you've grown up in the Vampire age, well aware of how Vampires work, hell, took a starved one to a Blood Bank and watched it rejuvenate her, you're still shocked completely still because you've never seen the real thing before.

"You okay?"

You twist your neck. Jade's eyebrows are tugged down, hips stilled.

"Uhm. Yeah. Just." You touch your forehead. "Dizzy. Uhm. Can I - Can I go catch my breath for a minute?"

Her eyes shift between yours. "Sure." She holds on for a moment longer, expression hesitant. Finally, her cold arms retract. She looks stiff again, stone.

"I will be right back. I promise." In a bold move you jump on your toe and find her cheek with your lips. Ice. You spin away before you can look at her face.

It takes you some time, but you manage to squeeze your way off of the dance floor. You feel buzzing, very much _on_, and even though you've never been drunk in your life, you think it must feel a little something like this. Disoriented, wobbly, a mixture of Jade's effect on you and what you saw.

Vampires have always been real to you. But seeing what they're best known for - drinking Human blood, not out of a bottle, not synthetic, not from a bag at a Blood Bank - but straight from the source, suddenly makes the reality that much more here and now. The blood that keeps you Alive feeds them.

You find the bathrooms by some miracle. There are a few Human girls inside, crowding the wall-length mirror. You wet your face with a paper towel and look at them, most of them older than you but overall just as average as you are, minus a tiny detail. It's almost hard to tell under the make-up or necklaces they're wearing, but you can see them. Bite marks. Purple bruises punctuated with black craters. It's like hickeys in the Human world but a thousand leagues worse; Vampires are a part of society, sure, but there are lines that you're not supposed to cross.

You've been toeing them for a while now.

You suck in a breath, then sharply shake your head. It's not like Jade has ever made any suggestion that she wants to Feed from you.

But what if she asked?

You chew the inside of your cheek and wait for the girls to leave. You meet your reflection. Legend has it that Feeding is amazing for both parties, a euphoria you can't even imagine, but that's only rumors you've heard. It's not like you ever had the chance to confirm it.

Running your fingers through your hair, you decide to shake the thoughts off. This is just fun, right? You're just getting to know one another. Your life is short. You're living in the moment, remember?

You step out of the bathroom and make your way down the corridor that leads back to the bar, back to Jade. You're nearly to the mouth of the entrance when you feel her behind you, a cool breeze on the back of your neck.

Grinning, you turn to face the Vampire. "I told you I'd be right -"

You were right about the Vampire part.

But it's not Jade.

_;;_


	15. Prey

**_Mortality_**

_XV - Prey_

_;;_

Vampires are well known for the glowing quality of their irises. You're sure there's some kind of scientific explanation for this but you once read a poem where the author described them as 'trapping drops of sun' in them; the precious remains of what had once made them Alive.

That's the first thing you notice. His eyes aren't glowing. They're too dark, almost black. But he is definitely a Vampire - you know this not just because you can feel the cold draft radiating off of him, or that he's painfully gorgeous to look at, but because your fight or flight instincts are kicking in. The hairs on your arms are straightening and your whole body's gone rigid. The way he's looking at you is predatory and you feel less than some spooked rabbit met with a fox.

He's tall, his head slightly bent to look down at you. His skin is dark, possibly Indian, and there's a windswept, delicately messy quality to his chin-length black hair. He's standing close enough to smell but it's a scent you can't describe without using words like _cemetery_ and _full moon_.

You don't consciously take a step back - your body does it for you, but as soon as you create distance he negates it, sliding forward as if he were simply gliding. Your lips part because you feel like you should be yelling for help. He hasn't even touched you - yet - but the way his eyes are scourging across your face, your chest, your _neck_, it feels like he's groping every inch of you.

"I must admit," he says, voice deep in his throat, quiet but forceful, "For a Human, you have exceptional features."

You're sure that's a compliment or something but it feels like he's judging his dinner. You swallow hard, tilting your chin up, as if you stand a lick of a chance against a Vampire. Meeting his eyes, you say lowly, controlled, "I have to get back to my date."

You turn and barely manage to cut off a yelp because he's _right there_. You nearly collide into his chest and feel something, his cheek or his nose, brush against your hair.

"Get away from me." The sharpness of your words impresses you considering the circumstances, but the man's dark brows arch and his expression becomes something between amused and condescending.

"_And_ you're spicy." One corner of his mouth curls into a cruel smirk. "Interesting."

"What do you want?" You do your best to reassure yourself that he can't hurt you here, if that's what he's intending to do. Someone would certainly hear you. And if he's trying to seduce you with his mysteriousness, he's going to be severely disappointed because topping Jade is pretty much impossible in your opinion.

You can't read his eyes. You can't tell what he wants, what he's looking for in you. You know that there are likely just as many loony, unstable Vampires as there are Humans, but the difference is like giving one lunatic a gun and the other a knife. One has an obvious, dangerous advantage.

The man scoffs. "As if you could offer me anything more than a midnight snack. No," he breathes, head tilting slowly to the left. "I am merely observing her new toy. You're the first Human she's bothered in decades. While I have already mentioned you are an above average Human appearance-wise, it is still a new low for her."

"Jade?" It's a stupid question - who else would he be talking about? - and her name sends your heart into a frenzy. His eyes jump from your chest back to your face and you know he can hear it.

Absently, you wonder what that's like for them; to be constantly surrounded by food they can't _legally_ eat.

"Of course. Ms. West and I go back ages." He's smiling but it's too dark, too eerie to be handsome. "Literally."

You swallow again. You're very conscious of the way he watches your throat. "Well. Maybe you can catch up with her sometime, then, but for tonight, she's -" You stop, not sure how to end that sentence. "She's mine," you finish, trying to make your face firm, but your resolve slackens when the man releases something sharp and loud. It takes you a moment to realize he's laughing.

"_Yours_," he sneers, all traces of humor vanishing from his face as quickly as they appeared. You dare a blink and he's moved again, arms on either side of your head against the wall - when did you get against a wall? - and the black pits of his eyes are level with yours.

You forget how to scream.

"It disgusts me to know that I was once a part of your race. That I was as weak and as arrogant as you." He tilts closer, his nose nearly touching yours. "How _dare_ you believe, let alone _claim_ that _any_ part of her belongs to you when I _made her_ what she is. I'm the one who saved her from a pitiful existence like yours." His upper lip raises in a wolf-like snarl. "Ignorant creatures, Humans, and too bold for their own good." A smile appears on his face suddenly and he's tilting closer, cold lips brushing your cheek, your ear.

You can't move. You can't breathe. You're just prey.

"I cannot tell you how much I would enjoy putting you in your place," he whispers, controlled and calm. Your breath hitches somewhere in your poorly operating lungs. "But I will humor you, little girl. For now, I will allow you to live in the illusion that she is yours, that you are special, but keep this in mind."

Something cold and slick slides over the cave of your ear. You realize it's his tongue with a sickening drop of your stomach.

"I do not like to share my things and you, Human, are _nothing_." The last word is spoken sharply and harsh into your ear and you're shaking and you feel like you're going to fall straight through the floor.

You blink.

He's gone.

You linger in the corridor for several minutes after. A couple passes you, a group of Human boys. They give you weary looks but don't say anything, not that you're in any condition to answer, anyway. Eventually, you move, one limb at a time, holding the wall for support until you're out in the bar again, brimming with people and laughter and it's almost hard to believe that you were convinced you were going to die a few minutes ago.

"Tori?"

Dazed, you turn. It's Andre, his expression concerned, a hand touching your elbow. "Andre." Your voice is swallowed by the music.

"There you are." Jade. She appears so suddenly you jump, flinching away from Andre, from both of them. Their faces immediately darken. "What?" She steps closer. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"I -" You shake your head, placing the flat of your palm against your forehead. Your eyes close.

His face burns the back of your eyelids and you know without having to ask who he is.

"I met your crazy ex-boyfriend," you say, opening your eyes. Andre is already gone and Jade - two hundred plus years old, Undead, beautiful, stone-faced Jade - stares right back at you with palpable fear in her emerald gaze.

_;;_


	16. Crime Scene

**_Mortality_**

_XVI - Crime Scene_

_;;_

You had a lot of different scenarios in your head when you first agreed to come to the Blood Bar. One involved the dancing, which you and Jade had already covered, but there were some other things that you didn't get to check off - like more dancing, or talking like the two of you did on the swingset a few days previous, or - in your wildest fantasies - a kiss. In Vampire territory, anything could happen. You were prepared to live in the moment.

But you were not prepared to have the night end in an explosion of Coexist agents, two of which had cornered you across the room from Jade, making you give your testimony. Again. You peek over their shoulders to watch her, one hand massaging her temple while the other pinched her hip. Andre is standing next to her, expression firm, but you can almost feel the shame radiating off of him. He had failed, technically, to keep Jade safe - she wasn't even supposed to be outside - but you can't find it in you to blame him. The place had been crowded before Coexist showed up. Even with their sharp senses, you're certain it would have been hard for any Vampire to monitor an entire Bar. Not to mention that Jade isn't exactly the type to just sit back and stay put.

"Tell us again," a slim boy with red hair glances up from his notepad. His green eyes are rimmed with the blondest eyelashes you've ever seen. "Everything you can remember that he said to you."

You sigh, close your eyes, and bring yourself back to the moment. Beck's damp breath in your ear, arms on either side of you. You shiver involuntarily. "He said he was embarrassed to have once been Human. That Jade belonged to him and that he wanted to put me in my place." You open your eyes, frowning, arms crossing tightly over your chest. "He said I was nothing."

The redhead - his badge says Aaron above the Coexist logo - nods, scribbling quickly.

"What do you know about these guys?" You press. "The Immortalis or whatever."

Aaron glances to his partner, a small girl who couldn't have been Changed before she was thirteen. She shrugs and Aaron looks back to you, lips pressed together. "A bunch of traditionalist lunatics, really. But." He pauses, shifting uneasily. "Smarter than we thought."

"What do you mean?"

The girl speaks up. "They're very quiet. Coexist was not even aware of their existence until Ms. West told us so, and, trust me, getting out off our radar is not an easy thing to do. We are very diligent in our pursuit of peaceful coexistence. Vampires who threaten that sanctity are not tolerated."

Your arms loosen. "Jade said they caught someone. A guy."

Aaron nods. "He's currently in custody. We found him cleaning up after the Immortalis moved their hideout. We have used every method possible to get him to talk, but he continues to refuse. We would simply execute him, but he's the only link we have, other than Ms. West."

"Every method?" You regret asking as soon as it's out of your mouth because the girl is swift to reply.

"Torture," she says bluntly, her brown eyes eerily blank. "Starving. Sun bathing. That kind of thing."

Your stomach turns. "Isn't that illegal?"

The girl - a child, you want to think, but she's likely decades older than you - laughs. "Your institutions and punishments are designed for Human bodies. Things must be adjusted for Vampires or they would have no effect."

You suppose that's true. You shiver again, thinking about it, because it's the first time you ever really have - it's the first time you've ever needed to. You nod toward Jade. "Can I talk to her now?"

The agents nod and escort you across the buzzing club, swept over and over again for traces of where Beck was off to by Vampires and Human officers alike. It's almost comforting to watch, noting the teamwork, but you hate that this situation exists in the first place.

Jade straightens as soon as she sees you. Uses her shoulder to force herself through a throng of people and walks to your side. She halts as soon as she's in front of you, as if she's unsure what to do next, her teeth running over her lower lip. "I'm sorry," she says, throat bobbing with a hard swallow. "This is the shittiest date of all time."

You smile at her. "I think it's kind of exciting. Our date turned into a crime scene. How unforgettable is that?"

Jade tries to muffle her grin but it explodes, absorbing her face. "You're something else, Sunshine."

You grin back at her. You're certainly rattled from the experience, but it hasn't ruined Jade for you. If anything it's made you want to be that much closer to her because she had to deal with that psycho much longer than you did. You can't imagine the suffering he had put her through before she managed to escape. "No one knows where he went, I suspect?"

The Vampire shakes her head. "No. I told them Beck's a clever guy. They're just now starting to believe me."

You glance at Andre over her shoulder, frowning. "How's he doing?" You know he can probably hear you but he doesn't react, expression still solid and stoic.

"He's in deep shit. He could get fired for this. I told them that it was all me, that I forced him into letting me come here, but Coexist is pretty strict about rules. I don't know. I don't blame him. The Bar was crowded. Shit happens."

You nod. "Now what?"

Jade sighs, running a hand through her hair. "They're moving my hideout as we speak. I sure as hell won't be allowed out again until they catch the fucker."

"I won't see you again?"

Jade looks at you sharply, opens her mouth, closes it. Her weight shifts onto her other foot. "Not until Beck and his band of shitheads are caught, no. Which -" she grins, "-sucks."

"You know, for a Vampire who wanted nothing to do with Humans, you're pretty open with me." You're smiling at her, intended it to be a joke, but Jade's expression becomes so serious that the smile falls from your face. You watch as she studies you in silence for several long moments before answering again.

"The safe, smart thing to do for both of us would be to never talk to each other again."

You swallow. "But?"

The Vampire tilts her head slowly, green eyes flicking with calculation. "But I don't want to do that."

"Me either," you say, probably too quickly, but she's smiling at you again.

"I promise, when all of this blows over, we -"

"Excuse me."

It's Aaron. His hands are joined behind his back. "Ms. West, Mr. Harris is going to take you to your new location. Ms. Vega," he turns to you, "My partner and I will be following you home in our vehicle. Your parents have been contacted."

"_What_?" You stare at him, mouth gaping. "Why would you -"

"Your father is on the force. He would have found out anyway."

Dread coils in your stomach like fishing line, but instead of pulling you to the surface, it's dragging you under. "Wonderful," you mumble, pressing a hand to your forehead. "Fantastic."

Aaron frowns, jerking his head to the side. "Well, we're off, then." He stares at Jade pointedly, but she's still focused on you.

"I'll call you," she says, finally, a corner of her lip rising.

"Okay." You don't want to walk away. You don't want to spend the next few weeks or months not knowing when you're going to see her again. You want to stay right where you're standing, the center of her attention, because it makes your chest swell.

Aaron touches your elbow. You start to follow him but something cool anchors your wrist and you turn just as Jade's lips meet your cheek, an icy exhale somehow making your temperature rise.

"Don't forget me, Sunshine."

As Aaron tugs you out of the Bar, you're in a bit of a haze and a little incredulous.

Forget Jade? Not in a thousand lifetimes.

_;;_


	17. No Regrets

**_Mortality _**

_XVII - No Regrets_

Not surprisingly, your parents are livid when you make it home. Not just because you weren't where you said you were going to be or who you were going to be with but there's also the tiny matter of the fact that Aaron and his partner - Laura, you found out on the way back to your car - stay parked outside your house until the sky begins to thaw with sunlight because you're in danger - and, by extension, so are they.

"A _Blood Bar_?" Your mother hisses across the table, jabbing at a pancake with far too much enthusiasm. It's morning and Aaron and Laura have been replaced with cops of the Human variety, due to the issue of the daytime. When you had arrived home late in the night, your parents had scolded you straight to your bedroom until you locked it, but now that yellow fills the windows, there's nowhere to escape. "That is not a place for a girl like you to be hanging out in the first place."

" 'A girl like me?' " You mimic, glancing up with flattened lips. "You mean a Human girl?"

"I mean a _nice_ girl," she replies sharply.

"Everyone there was nice."

"Yeah, except the Vampire who threatened to bite your head off." It's Trina this time, digging under her fingernails with a file.

The handle of your butter knife butts against the table. "I didn't go there to get threatened, okay? I went there to hang out with J- a friend."

A grunt sounds from the other end of the table. Your father doesn't look up as he speaks. "The same friend that got you into this mess."

You bite your lip and straighten your back. Your stomach curls uncomfortably around the small bit of breakfast you've managed to swallow. They don't know Jade. They've never seen her or listened to her voice wiping the dust off two hundred years worth of living or felt her chilling skin. You have. You know her - not everything, not even close, but you know enough. "_I_ got myself into this mess._ I_ decided to become friends with her. I _like_ her!"

"And now -" your father roars, " - we're all at risk, because you decided to mingle with those, those -"

"What, Dad? Freaks? Monsters? Since when were you guys a bunch of racist pricks?"

"You haven't seen what I've seen." His eyes are dark, serious. A vacuum of quiet wraps the space between you. "Since they came out of the coffin I have had to clean up the most horrific crime scenes left in their wake. You don't know what they're really capable of. You don't know what those things can do to us. Coexist has coddled you into believing they're just like us, but they're not. They are not like us at all."

You scoff, standing up so fast your chair nearly topples behind you. "Are we seriously having this conversation? Humans can be just as bad as Vampires. You're a cop, Dad, you should know that better than anyone. There are good and bad people, dead or alive." You take a deep breath that makes your lungs tremble. "Look, I'm sorry I got us into this trouble. I didn't mean to. But I don't regret becoming friends with Jade." You look each of your family members square in the eye. "Coexist - _and_ the police - will catch these bad guys, just like they catch Human bad guys. Until then, we're just going to have to be a little safer than usual, okay?"

Your mom is staring into her plate. Trina is still digging at her nails and your father is silently fuming at the end of the table. Pushing your chair in, you leave the room and ascend the stairs, breathing heavily against the door when you close it. The thick silence of your room makes you long for the loud, beating energy of the Blood Bar, with bodies on every side of you and Jade's mouth on your ear and her hips grinding into yours and -

You bite your lip, eyes closing, one hand clenching your upper thigh. You're not sure how it's possible that a creature practically crafted out of ice can make you so _hot_, but you feel like there are coals smoldering between your legs. On the screen of your eyelids you see Jade's green eyes and the cap of a white canine biting at her lower lip, you feel her hands on the small of your back, pulling you closer, tighter, and oh, goodness.

Touching yourself isn't a common activity for you - you simply never really understood the appeal. But now, with your pants kicked to the floor and your hand working fervently between your legs, you totally get why people do this all the time. Because your hand is Jade's hand and the buffering breeze from your ceiling fan is Jade's cold breath on your neck. Her name falls from your mouth in breathless whimpers until you come. You sincerely hope that Trina is still downstairs because you're certain that your cry of pleasure was a little too loud for your walls to hold.

The shower you take afterward does little to calm you, especially when you turn the dial a little too far to the C on the right side and ice water starts gliding down your back. You picture Jade's fingernails tearing frost into your flesh. You imagine her standing in front of you, wet and dripping and, oh God, naked. And you're not sure when you became such a horndog but at this rate, the water bill is going to go up quite a bit.

She doesn't call you until nearly sunset and you've spent the entire day locked in your room with the TV on and your phone held tightly in your lap. Cat asked you to hang out today and you hate lying to her, but the police don't want you doing any unnecessary trips out of the house for a few days and you're not supposed to tell anyone even if you wanted to. Explaining this would take hours and you don't even know where to begin anymore, so you tell her that you're not feeling well and maybe you can later in the week. Before Cat has a chance to reply, Jade's name lights up the screen and you answer with such fervor you forget to talk and just sit there holding the phone against your ear with both hands.

"Tori?"

"Jade," you finally manage, all but sinking against your pillow. "Sorry, I just, I've been waiting for you to call all day."

"I know. Sorry. It's a bit of a shitstorm over here."

You frown. "Are you okay?"

There's a shrug in her voice when she replies. "Eh." She pauses and you think you hear another voice in the background but it's all dull humming. "Look, Tori, they're moving me again and I can't talk to you until Beck's taken care of. He's a fucking psycho and I couldn't live with myself if he hurt you."

"Jade." You clutch the phone tighter, as if that would convince her to stay, like it would tether the two of you together.

"I'm sorry. If you don't want me to come back at all I completely understand -"

"No!" You're sitting up now, shaking your cheek against the phone. "Absolutely not. We've barely got a chance to get to know each other and, well, uhm." You cross your legs tightly. "Just. Please. Come back."

Other than more distant humming, there is nothing but silence for several moments, and then, "Okay, Sunshine. I'll find you when all of this blows over." She snaps a curse at someone with a sharp crack of her voice before returning a second later with the same smooth, light tone she uses with you. "Don't get yourself killed before I get back. It's your turn to pick our next date destination. Hopefully it'll end with less police officers."

"Oh, I know. Let's go to the beach and work on our tans."

Jade laughs. It's the prettiest sound, you decide. It's cut off a moment later, followed by more cursing. "They're going to terminate the call. I've gotta go. But look, Tori, I just ..." A sigh rustles the phone. "I'm really sorry. If I knew that I was going to pull you into this, I would've stayed away from you for good."

"Jade, no." Your voice sounds a little more desperate than you wish it did, but the trembling is completely involuntary. "Don't think that. If I didn't want to be here, I wouldn't be. I have no regrets."

The Vampire chuckles lightly. "Which says a lot about your sanity."

"Or lack of it."

You feel her smile through the phone - a winter's sun. "Shit, okay. Yeah. I have to go. I'll ... I'll see you as soon as I can."

"Okay." You close your eyes. "Be careful, Jade."

"You t-"

The call clicks dead. You hold on for a moment longer, listening to the dialtone with a blank expression before tossing the phone onto your bed. It could be months before you see her again, just like last time - you can't help but think the universe is trying very hard to tell you to stay away from her. If things are supposed to be, wouldn't they come more easily? If this - whatever it is - was supposed to work out, then why is her ex-boyfriend a complete nutjob and why is his little band of wackos out to farm Humans and why is she a Vampire and why are you a Human and _why_?

You could write a novel about all the reasons it won't work. But you close your eyes and see hers, a pair of emerald jewels, and it's enough reason to keep trying.


	18. TV

**_Mortality_**

_XVIII - TV_

_;;_

Even though you knew that there was no way Jade would come back into contact with you before Christmas break ended, you're still disappointed when the holiday comes and goes and before you know it you're driving back to university. Falling back into the very Human routine of attending class, doing homework, rehearsing, going to bed at night - it's all so mundane to you now and as much as you try to throw yourself into everything you do, you can't get the Vampire out of your mind. She's seeped into your bloodstream like a disease.

"You seem distracted," your director tells you one night after practice. He's a nervous, jittery kind of guy, and he's watching you anxiously. You don't blame him - the big show is less than a month away. "I need you here one hundred percent, Tori."

You tell him you'll try harder, but you don't think you can give one hundred percent when Jade has some part of you wherever she's hiding. Your phone never leaves your pocket out of the hope she might snag a few minutes to call, but you know it's useless. Coexist is thorough. They let her slip through the cracks once already, they're not going to make the same mistake twice. But - you defend her, even against yourself - she's old. The oldest Vampire you've ever heard of, and, generally, the older a Vampire is, the stronger and more clever they are.

Beck made her, you remind yourself. That means he's the oldest. The strongest. And that thought leaves you staring at the ceiling at night with your too Alive heart thrumming in your ears.

The news is always on. Your roommate gets a little huffy with you sometimes about it - "This stuff is so boring, Tori, I want to watch the Bad Girls Club!" - but you insist to have it on, waiting for _Immortalis_ to fall out of one of the newscaster's mouths or to roll across the bottom of the screen. You wait to hear Beck's name, a picture of him getting arrested, anything to give you hope that some progress is being made and Jade will be released soon.

Nothing. Not a word has leaked through the media. You couldn't even find anything online. You don't know why the authorities are keeping this quiet, Human and Vampire alike. Doesn't the public deserve to know that there is a dangerous group of Vampires out there? Isn't it fair that they at least have an idea of what they're up against, get a chance to defend themselves?

Winter melts into spring. In April you win a talent show and your parents take you out for dinner to celebrate. A Vampire waiter serves you there, and his eyes are almost the same color as Jade's. You get a little dizzy when he asks for your order and wish you could brush your hand over his for just a moment to try and freeze their natural chill into you. You're beginning to forget what she feels like.

Right before finals, your roommate, Vivian, gets a boyfriend. He's not bad looking but he's kind of an asshole, which is why you have to grit your teeth every time he's in your room. You only snapped at him once - they were sitting on your roommate's bed and you were at your desk reading something for your sociology class when the word 'Vampire' made your ears prick. Like a trained dog you spun at the word, instantly tuning in to their usual stupid conversation.

"It's not that I hate 'em. I had a Vamp buddy on the community basketball team back home, and he was a nice guy. But, you know, it's kind of like living around a bunch of wild animals. They could snap at any minute. They've got this killer instinct that us normal people just don't have, you know what I mean?"

"Humans are just as apt to snap as Vampires," you cut in, sharp enough to make both of their heads turn. "Humans kill just as often as Vampires. Historically, the body count is probably equal on both sides. There's nothing inherently wrong with being a Vampire."

They had both stared at you in silence then - at your raised voice, your clenched hands on the back of your seat. Face flushed, you twisted back to your book, but all you could read was the word 'killer' over and over again.

Jade is not a killer. At least, you like to really hope she isn't because you're not sure if you could stomach that.

You write Jade a few letters that you never send. When your roommate goes to a party, you stay in your room and close your eyes and relive dancing with Jade in the Blood Bar. But it's becoming a string of film played too many times; pieces are blurring out, chunks are missing. Did she put her lips on the left side of your jaw or the right? Was her shirt black or emerald? What did you say, how did she move? Unfortunately, the part of the night that has remained the most vivid is the minute you were alone with Beck. Sometimes, you can still smell him when you sleep.

Finals are on you quicker than you can prepare for. You're not sure how you survive the week between pulling all-nighters and drinking enough caffeine to give yourself two heart attacks, but somehow you not only pass but do pretty well considering how much time you spent daydreaming about a certain Vampire instead of studying. The night before you're to leave for home for the summer, you're declining Vivian's numerous offers to go to a party, intent on packing, but the two of you are distracted by a sudden high pitched noise from the TV.

You look, but you're not sure what you're seeing. The news anchor, a dark-skinned woman, is screaming. The camera shakes, topples. You watch pairs of feet scrambling sideways.

"What is this?" Vivian's voice sounds far away. "Some kind of joke?"

The woman, now off screen, screams until it's interrupted by a wet gurgling sound. Something akin to laughter drowns it out.

"Is this real?" Vivian is standing next to you, touching your arm, but you can't move or breathe or think because someone has hefted the camera into their hands and directed it at the news anchor's body. The woman's neck has been torn open. The blood is blinding you.

"Oh. Oh my God."

You think you say it but you're not sure. Someone's hand is dipping into the pulsing hole where the woman's throat had been and, withdrawing, begins to write something on the opaque floor beside her sightless eyes.

The screen almost blanks out before you can catch it, but it's there.

_IMMORTALIS_

Vivian screams. Your phone starts vibrating in your pocket. You're not sure how you manage to tear your eyes away from TV and you don't remember consciously deciding to pull out your phone and answer the unknown number, but when it's pressed to your ear you say nothing.

"Sunshine? Don't turn on the TV."


	19. Kiss

**_Mortality_**

_XIX - Kiss_

_;;_

"Tori?"

You just watched a woman brutally murdered on television. You're not sure how you're supposed to react to something like that, so you just continue to stand in the middle of your dorm room, surrounded by half-packed boxes. Vivian left - you can hear her in the hall talking to other students.

"Vampires," they say, and now you know why the media had kept everything hushed until now because with that one word, the fear that it comes drenched in, the rights of an entire race have just been kicked back fifty years.

"Tori? This is Tori Vega's number, right? Dude, answer me. Please."

"Jade." You take a breath so sharply you can feel it stabbing your lungs. "Jade, oh my God."

"Shit. You saw it, didn't you?" Jade sighs hard into the phone. "I can't believe this is happening."

Her voice pulls you out of whatever mesmerized state you had fallen into. Holding the phone with both hands, you sink on the edge of Vivian's bed. The TV is has gone blank, a low buzzing sound emanating from the speakers, but you can't bring yourself to look at it.

"What just happened?" You can't seem to get your voice loud enough, but Jade hears you just fine.

"Immortalis made themselves known to the world in the most gruesome way possible."

You know you are your mother's child when you begin to rub the crease between your eyebrows. "Why are you calling me now? It's been - it's been five, almost six months and you decide to call me now?" You close your eyes. "I thought you just ... left."

She doesn't say anything for a minute, but you can hear distinct rustling in the background. You think there's the sound of a door opening and closing. "I know. I'm sorry. We almost had him. Coexist had their location, we had a guy undercover and everything. It was a real fucking trip. I was going to call you once I knew he was in custody, but ... I don't know what happened. He must have tipped somebody off and they panicked. And, well, you saw."

Fingers thread through your hair, pulling it back. Your dorm ceiling never looked so daunting before. You feel like it's about to fall on you. "This is bad."

"This is very bad. I mean, the good news is is that I think Coexist can still catch Beck before he does something even more terrible. It's just a matter of outwitting him, which they've managed to do a few times these past few weeks. But the bad news is that I don't think Vampires are going to be able to show their faces for the next decade or so."

"What does that mean for you?"

The receiver bluffs with Jade's sigh. "It means lying low. Back into the shadows, I suppose."

"I miss you."

You don't realize what you've said until the silence stretches for so long you think she's hung up on you. Before you have a chance to apologize, she says, "I know. I miss you, too. You know, for a Human, you're quite memorable."

"Oh?" A twitch of a smile quivers at the corner of your mouth. Images of the dead woman bleed through your vision. It melts away. "Where are you?"

"The corner of Norway and Right Street."

You stand up so fast the room spins. "That's two blocks away."

"I know. I've kind of been here the whole time. I wanted to be close by so I could keep an eye on you. I know, I know, I'm an asshole, but it wasn't safe -"

"I want to see you."

Jade laughs. "Well, shit, Sunshine, I sure hope so. That's why I'm coming to meet you. Just stay there and -"

"See you soon!" The horrid visions are washed out with the memory of Jade's glittering eyes, her moon-washed skin, and you are out the door faster than if you had just received a call-back for a hit movie. Vivian tries to stop you in the hall but you're gone, breaking out into the night with the wind ripping through your hair. You think that if you were in your right mind you would consider how funny it is that a Dead girl could make you feel so Alive, but you're too caught up with the fact that you are going to see her again to think about anything else. You're vaguely aware of how you must look like a crazy person sprinting across campus, past the library and through the Natural Science's vegetable garden, but Norway and Right is two blocks away. She's been so close this whole time!

You try really hard to be mad at her. It doesn't work out well for you. Because even though you've only seen her a handful of times in the past year and even though you've turned down dates with guys on account of 'it's complicated', and even though you're Human and she's not, you can't ignore the out of control hammering of your heartbeat every time you even think about her or see a deep velvet green that reminds you of her eyes. That means something. It scares you on some level, but not enough to make you turn around and fall back into the safety of the sunlight.

The moon guides you.

You think you should have seen her by now so you stop, pivoting in a slow circle, eyeing the darkness all around you. Despite what you just saw on TV, you don't feel afraid. "Jade," you say, an excited grin dominating one side of your mouth. You know she's there - you have goosebumps and the hairs on your neck are raising like arrows pointing her out. You once mistook this reaction as a flight-or-fight response. Now it's just your Jade-is-here sense. "Sneaking up behind me is getting pretty old, don't you think?"

You hear her laugh before you see her. She's behind you but you don't want to turn because you can feel her lips on the shell of your ear and good God does it make you feel like flying.

"Old habits die hard," she whispers.

You spin to face her, but you don't take even a moment to absorb her features, to look her over, to hug her or exclaim with glee. You see only the beacon of her eyes and then her mouth and in a heartbeat you are taking her by the face and you are kissing her. You kiss her like it will bring her back to Life.

_;;_


	20. Creatues?

**_Mortality_**

_XX - Creatures?_

_;;_

You have spent an awfully large amount of time thinking about kissing Jade West for the past few months, so you had imagined quite a few scenarios in which the first one would take place - in a dark place, maybe another club that she would've brought you to, or your dorm bedroom after sneaking her in through a window when Vivian was gone, or up against a tree in the middle of a deserted park, or lots of things. One that didn't cross your mind was standing in the puddle of golden light from a streetlamp.

In your opinion, reality is so much better than any of your fantasies.

She doesn't pull away. It's immediate, how she grabs onto you - and she really _grabs_, fingers clutching the curves of your waist with enough force to promise bruises later and she's backing you up, out of the glow of the light and against the building behind you. Which is probably a good thing because the taste of her, copper and something that you can't describe without using the color red, has made your knees little more than jello. Your arms circle her neck, bridging any gap that might have remained between you. She is cold, so cold, but you feel like you're heating up anyway, like some dial inside of you has been cranked up. You think you might melt her.

Her tongue is a life force all its own. It's harder than you imagined, stronger, and you can't say you don't like it because _wow_. One long lick of the roof of your mouth and you're certain you're going to pass out; your eyelids are dusted with stars and your heartbeat is a frantic drummer's solo in your chest. You are so pulled in, so sucked into her, that you don't realize that you are actually quite literally about to pass out.

The kiss is great - the kiss is amazing, supernatural to some degree - but you're about to pass out because you haven't taken a breath in almost two minutes.

You have to push her back. She had become dominating, aggressive, and as much as that turns you on you have to breathe before you faint. It takes her a moment to pull away, her mouth gasping hard in front of yours, except she doesn't need the lungfuls of air that she's sucking in. Eyes opening, your head falls back and meets the building's wall and your wet, open mouth gasps like you've just ran a mile straight.

"I'm sorry."

Your fingers flex because Jade is trying to step away; for one thing, you want her to stay as close as possible and for another, you think you might collapse if she gets too far. When you look at her she seems frightened which, considering she's a Vampire older than you've ever even heard of and has seen horrors beyond what you can imagine, unsettles you. "For what?" You're still panting despite your best efforts to get your shit together, shrugging up the wall that you hadn't known you had started to slide down.

"Kissing you to death," she says, gauging you carefully. She adjusts her arms, strengthening her hold. "Jesus, are you going to be okay?"

"I'm fine." The words come out on a puff of laughter. As your oxygen deprived brain finally replinshes itself, you are finally hit with the oh-my-God factor that continually comes back to you every time Jade reappears. You touch her face with one hand, the other dragging lightly over the black depths of her hair. She's wearing jeans and a black t-shirt with some kind of metal band smearing the front and you almost laugh because everything is so absurd.

"Absence really does make the heart grow fonder, hm?" Jade is grinning, looking back at you with just as much wonder, like you could possibly be the best thing she's ever laid eyes on. "If you're going to pounce on me like that every time I take off, I should leave more often."

"No." The word is spoken too quickly, too strongly, and you don't realize you're practically clinging to her until she gives you a quizzical look. You relax, albeit reluctantly, like she might burst off into the sky if you don't keep a firm grip on her. "I mean, I just, I really prefer it when you're with me."

Her forehead dips forward to meet yours. The skin-on-skin contact is like pressing against a frozen pole. "I missed you," she says, watching your mouth. "I'm sorry I keep coming and going like a flock of fucking geese."

"I'll forgive you if you promise to make your visits more frequent."

A grin hovers on one corner of her mouth before disappearing. Sighing, she pulls back, and it's only then that you remember where you are - a car is passing behind her. You're in the middle of the sidewalk a few blocks from campus. A woman was just murdered on TV by a Vampire.

The realizations must show on your face because Jade is sighing again. "You can probably guess why that might be a little difficult."

You push yourself off the wall, clearing your throat. Already you dislike the distance between you, even if you could close it with a short step forward, but you plant your feet down, chewing your cheek. "When humans do crazy, terrible things - which they do, often - like shoot up a school or something, Vampires don't protest us."

Jade is frowning. "As sound as that is, I don't think it's going to hold up. Creatures of all kinds of coveted a fear of us for centuries -"

"Woah, woah, wait." Your hands are up, palms facing her. " 'Creatures of all kinds'? What does that mean?"

Jade might be old enough to know how to master facial expressions, but she isn't fast enough to snuff this one out - for a moment, she holds the distinct look of someone who has said too much. "Just, you know. People."

Your eyes narrow. "Are you telling me - are you telling me there are more things out there?"

"Mm, define 'things'."

"Werewolves? I don't even, like, fairies? Mermaids?"

Jade kicks at the ground, smirking.

"You're serious." It isn't a question. You're gaping at her.

She shrugs in response, shaking her head. Her eyes meet yours again, gold lining from the streetlamp behind her. "I know this all sounds very interesting to you, but I've talked about these things a thousand times before. It's boring. I was much more entertained by the kissing bit earlier."

You don't realize you're blushing until Jade laughs. She's up against you again, holding one hand to your face, studying you. "I liked the kissing bit, too," you say, running your teeth over your bottom lip. The Vampire watches the movement with intensity. "However, this is kind of, uh, not a very private place ..."

"Lucky for you, I know of a private place."

"Where's your nanny?"

"Andre's on Coexist slash Immortalis business. Since I'm older than the lot of them, they decided that I can probably take care of myself. I would love some company, though." You think she's going to kiss you again, but her mouth simply skims yours and then follows the line of your jaw. You tremble as she descends down the curve of your neck, lips on your pounding jugular.

You know, somehow, that this is some sign of trust between Human and Vampire. That she could be this close to you, in the dark, alone, with no one knowing where you are, having all of the strength required to drain you dry if she really wanted to, and doing nothing but leaving a soft kiss on your neck, your heartbeat.

You sigh or moan or something, you're not really sure, but Jade is laughing again so you don't care much. "I'll take that as a yes," she says, a hand following the length of your arm until her fingers are tangled in yours. "Come on, Human. It's way past your bedtime."

"I hope you know that you're not off the hook about those other Creatures," you manage, walking breathlessly beside her. When she smiles at you, you squeeze her hand. "We are definitely talking about those mermaids."

_;;_


End file.
